


Once More, With Feeling

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Category: Smallville
Genre: AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character death is a bad guy, F/M, Gotham, Lies, Murder, Parenthood, Post-Doomsday, Secrets, Star City, Teasing, Unexpected Reunions, flirtation, kidnappings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:34:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 51,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24112888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Getting kidnapped by Lex Luthor leads Chloe and Oliver to having an unplanned reunion that brings plenty of surprises of its own.
Relationships: Chloe Sullivan & Lois Lane, Oliver Queen & Lois Lane, Oliver Queen & Mia Dearden, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

Chloe had just made her way out of the paper when her phone started to ring. She wrapped her scarf around her neck and took a deep breath as she reached for it inside her purse, smiling a little when she saw her cousin’s picture up on the screen. “Hey, Lo.” 

“Hey, Chlo,” Lois greeted. “Done with work for the day?” 

“Just leaving now, a little later than I expected,” she admitted. “How about you?”

“Just getting here,” she answered, shrugging. “I’m pulling a graveyard tonight.” 

Chloe made a face at that and nodded. “Hope you have something to entertain yourself with.”

“I do. But he’s not here yet,” Lois told her with a smirk. “I plan to spend the entire night annoying him as much as I can.” 

“Okay I just got a terrible mental image I never want to get again,” Chloe told her, shaking her head a little. “I’m getting up to the train, if the call drops, that’s why.”

“A terrible mental image of me pestering Clark?” Her eyebrows furrowed.

“No, not exactly,” she admitted. 

“You have a dirty mind,” Lois informed her, smirking again. “I taught you well.” 

“It is all thanks to you.” She smirked a little. “So when are you coming up again?”

“Not for awhile,” she said, sighing. “A couple weeks probably, at least.” 

“I thought that might be why you were calling,” she admitted, smiling a little. “Let me know so I can take a couple days off at least.”

“Mostly I was calling because I miss you,” she told her cousin. “How are things? How’s Ella?” 

“Miss you too,” she told her as she looked down the rail, waiting on the train. “She’s doing good, I’m on my way to pick her up.”

Lois leaned back in her chair. “Glad to hear that. And you? You’re doing good, too?” 

“I am,” she confirmed. “How about you? How is Metropolis?”

“Same ole, same ole. The Blur’s still saving people, and he still won’t give me an in-person interview.” She shrugged. “But I get it.” 

“You do?” Chloe asked, cocking her head a little. 

“He doesn’t want to endanger me or himself by revealing his identity. What he’s doing is too important,” Lois explained.

“He doesn’t have to reveal his identity,” Chloe pointed out. “You’ve talked to him over the phone, right? Ask for a phone interview.”

“Maybe it’s better not knowing,” she said, sounding conflicting.

“It’s definitely safer,” she agreed, then took a deep breath. She hated Clark for keeping Lois in the dark and contacting her as the Blur, but she knew he was trying to protect her cousin. She just wished he wouldn’t play her the way he had been. “If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t been able to get anything on the Batman either.” At least not as a reporter.

“Guess we’re in the same boat, then, huh?”

“Pretty much,” Chloe agreed. “But at least we can still write about all the good they are doing.”

“True. At least it’s not a total loss,” Lois said with a small smile. She was quiet for a moment. “You know, you could come back to Metropolis to visit.” 

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little. “Yeah, sometime.”

“Just not soon,” she guessed, sighing softly.

Chloe took a deep breath and shook her head. “There’s nothing for me there, Lo. I just don’t know how it’d feel, being back.” Truth was, she missed Metropolis, but she missed what it had been one day, not what it was when she left four years ago.

“I don’t mean to live here. I just mean for a visit. I’m here.” 

“I know, and I miss you,” she said quietly as she stepped into the train. “But I haven’t been there in such a long time, Lo.”

“I know.” Lois chewed her lip for a moment. “And I know you and Clark have this weird distance between you--and I’m not talking about miles--but maybe it would help you both, too.” 

“I think Clark and I have just moved on,” she admitted. “I don’t think there’s going back after all this time.”

“I was thinking more like...going forward.” 

“What do you mean?” She asked, frowning.

“I mean, he’s kind of...a big part of my life. And so are you.” Her voice was quiet. 

“I don’t hate Clark,” she told Lois, taking a deep breath. “And I will be glad to see him again but--” she paused, arching her eyebrows. “How big a part are we talking here?”

Lois paused, too, holding her breath. “Pretty big. I--we’re...seeing each other.” 

Chloe was silent for a moment then smiled. “Well, it’s about time.”

She exhaled loudly. “I was worried you might be upset.” 

“Why would I be upset? I know the two of you have had crushes on each other since high school.”

“Because of whatever happened between the two of you before you left,” she admitted.

“Just because we weren’t seeing eye-to-eye then, it doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s good for you.” She may not agree with how Clark goes about things and vice-versa, but she knew how devoted he was to the person he was in love with. And she knew he could protect Lois better than anyone else.

She relaxed in her chair, nodding even though Chloe couldn’t see him. “Right,” she said softly. “I just...I’m glad you’re okay with it.” 

“I’m happy for you, Lo,” she admitted quietly. 

“Are _you_ happy?” Lois asked just as quietly.

Chloe hesitated just for a second then said, “yeah.” She didn’t want Lois to worry about her, besides even if her life wasn’t perfect, it was still pretty good. That was mostly thanks to her daughter, but she also had an amazing job at the Gotham Gazette and Gotham itself wasn’t so bad.

Lois wasn’t convinced her cousin was being entirely honest, but she had to admit, she did sound like she was at least doing well. “Good,” she said softly. She glanced up as she caught sight of Clark coming into the bullpen. “My partner decided he was finally going to show up to work.” 

“Okay, I’m almost at my station anyway. I’ll talk to you soon?” She asked, holding her breath.

“Definitely. Probably tomorrow.” She smiled faintly, waving at Clark and sitting forward at her desk. 

“Okay, good. Call a little later if you can. Ella would love talking to her favorite aunt.”

Lois smiled more brightly at that. “I will. I can’t wait.” 

“Me neither,” she said with a smile as she got out of the train on her stop. “Have a good night, Lo.”

“Night, Chloe. I love you.” 

“Love you too,” she answered before hanging up the phone and dropping it in her purse. With a deep breath, she made her way down the stairs and crossed the street before going inside her daughter’s daycare, greeting a couple if the teachers on her way in. 

Most of the kids were gone already, but she was glad to see Ella was still playing with a little girl and a little boy. At least she wasn’t the last one left. “Ella?” She called, arching her eyebrows.

“Mommy!” Ella’s face brightened instantly and she shot to her feet, running toward her.

Chloe leaned down and picked her up, hugging her as she kissed her cheek. “Hey.”

“I got a star today!” she said excitedly, hugging her back.

“You did?” Chloe gasped then grinned at her. “Congratulations! What did you get one for?”

“Sharing my grapes,” Ella said proudly. “Lisa’s mom forgot to pack her a lunch so I shared some of my grapes and Alex shared his carrots and Tina gave Lisa part of her samwhich!” 

Chloe grinned softly and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Good job, Ella. Now let’s get your coat and you can pick what we’re having for dinner, okay? So we can celebrate your star.” 

Her brown eyes widened at that. “Can we have Mcdonalds!?”

She winced at that but nodded, she had promised her after all. “We can, are you going to get a toy with dinner?” She asked as she set the little girl down and picked up her coat from a hanger on the wall.

“Can I?” she asked hopefully, eyes widening even more.

“You can.” She smiled and slid a beanie over Ella’s head then zipped up her coat. “Ready to go?”

“Yes, Mommy,” Ella said, nodding and wrapping her arms around her neck.

Chloe picked her up and hugged her to her then headed out of the school, pausing only to let Ella say goodbye to her teachers then starting toward the McDonalds. Usually when it was colder like this she would take the train home from her school, but since food was halfway there, walking was going to be easier. “What else did you do today?”

“We played basketball at recess. I’m not good at it.” Ella frowned, lower lip sticking out a little.

“I was never good at it either.” She smiled, brushing her thin blonde hair from her eyes. “But that’s okay, there are a lot of other things you’re really good at.”

Ella nodded at that, then cocked her head. “Like what?” 

“Like sharing,” she reminded her. “And drawing and telling stories.” There was no doubt in her mind that her daughter had taken after her and Lois on that front. She was incredibly curious and she loved telling everyone things that had happened.

She smiled brightly, kissing Chloe’s cheek. “Can we play on the playground at McDonalds?” 

“For a little while after dinner,” she agreed. “But not too long because it’s cold out and it’s already getting dark.” Chloe barely noticed as a van pulled up right next to them until three men, all wearing black came out of it. Frowning, she glanced at them sideways and hugged Ella close to her. While this was a mostly quiet neighborhood, it was still Gotham and she wasn’t going to take chances so she picked up the pace, glad she was carrying her daughter rather than letting her walk.

Without warning, one of the men moved, stepping in front of her and blocking her path. “Don’t make a fuss,” he warned.

“Get out of my way and I won’t,” she told him, jaw tightening as she reached inside her purse with one hand. 

“Mommy?” Ella’s voice held a note of fear. 

One of the other men was at her side, a gun pressed to the small of her back. “Get in the van.” 

Chloe straightened her back and pulled her hand out of her purse. If she was alone, she might have risked pulling out her own gun and trying to get away, but she couldn’t risk Ella. She cupped the back of her head and lower her face to her shoulder. “It’s okay, baby. We’re gonna go for a ride before dinner.”

Ella whimpered into her shoulder, tightening her arms around Chloe’s neck.

“Good girl,” the man murmured, leading her to the van and pushing her forward. “Just a little ride.” 

With her jaw tight, Chloe got in the back of the van, her eyes narrowing as she turned to face the men, but she remained quiet as she rubbed Ella’s back to try and comfort her. 

“Cute kid,” one of the men commented as the van lurched into motion a moment later.

Chloe glared at him and shifted away, sitting back against one side of the van, then pausing when she saw someone laying down on the opposite side. His head was covered, but she could tell it was a man, and he was wearing a business suite. He seemed to be unconscious, she hoped he was just unconscious and so she focused on his chest to make sure he was breathing. When it moved slowly, she relaxed a little. At least they weren’t going to kill them, they were probably going to be delivered to someone else. 

“What do you want with us?”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” one of the other men said, glaring at her, his gaze focusing on Ella.

Her jaw clenched again and she lowered her head, pressing a kiss to her daughter’s temple before whispering very quietly against her ear. “I want you to hold on to me as tight as you can and keep your head down and your eyes closed, okay? Just hug me really tight if you heard me.”

Ella’s arms tightened around her neck almost instantly.

“Okay,” Chloe whispered again. “Everything will be okay.” She promised, she just hoped she wouldn’t break that promise.


	2. Chapter 2

Chloe had been trying to figure out where they were being taken, but she couldn’t see outside at all. It was already completely dark out, so they had been driving for over an hour and as far as she had been able to tell, they were going north, which meant they were already outside the city limits and that was never good. 

When the van finally pulled to a stop and the bad doors opened, they were in a warehouse type of place. Two of the men got out, but Chloe didn’t move. She didn’t know who the man was, but she wanted to make sure he was with her and Ella in case someone came to pull them out. 

Not that she thought anyone would. Lois had already talked to her and probably wouldn’t call her again for another twenty-four hours or so and while she still helped the team with Watchtower stuff occasionally, she didn’t do nightly patrols anymore. And since they didn’t have a mission planned for the night, they had no reason to contact her. 

“This way,” one of the men ordered, pointing to a door a few feet away. 

When Ella lifted her head to look, Chloe lowered her head to her shoulder again, then slid out of the van and stood up. When she glanced over at the unconscious man, she noticed he was being pulled out too, so she headed in the direction she had been pointed toward.

Moments later, they led her to a bigger, more open room where a familiar man was seated behind an impressive looking desk, hands folded on top of it. 

“Glad you could join us on such short notice.” 

“Lex,” Chloe said instantly, her jaw clenching. She should have known. She knew it was only a matter of time before he came after her, too. 

“So good to see you again, Chloe,” he said pleasantly, motioning to the chairs in front of his desk.

“Can’t say the same,” she told him, forcing a pleasant tone even though she wasn’t going to bother playing his game. She did sit down, though, mostly because her arms were hurting from holding Ella for so long.

Lex smiled at her response and looked behind her at the two men standing close. “Why don’t you take Ella to the next room so Chloe and I can have some privacy?” he suggested, arching his eyebrows. 

Chloe arched her eyebrows at that and tightened her arms around her daughter, her stomach turning at the fact that Lex even knew her name. “That isn’t going to happen,” she told him, sitting up and doing her best to keep her voice calm. “Ella stays.”

“Well, I’d hate for your daughter to have to witness anything tragic because her mother refused to cooperate.” 

Holding her breath, she shook her head. “I don’t trust you to keep her safe,” she said simply, even as Ella lifted her head and looked up at her with big eyes.

“No harm will come to her. You have my personal guarantee.” He paused, smiling a bit and then pointing to a monitor above him. “And if that isn’t enough, you can keep an eye on her while we talk.” 

Her jaw clenched and Chloe took a deep breath and looked down at her daughter, then pointed at the monitor. “If there’s anything wrong, I will see you from here and I’ll come get you, okay?” 

Ella’s lower lip trembled a little and she looked up on the monitor, then nodded bravely. “Okay, Mommy.” 

“It will be okay, we’ll go home soon,” she promised quietly, kissing her forehead then helping her slide down from her lap. She wanted to get whatever this was over with, but at least, she didn’t think Lex was actually going to kill either one of them. 

One of the men moved over to Ella and picked her up, carrying her toward another room, the other man following and leaving Chloe alone in the room with Lex. A moment later, Chloe could see all three of them on the monitor as the man set Ella on the ground with a few toys in a corner. 

Chloe kept her eyes on the monitor until her daughter sat down on her floor and picked up a teddy bear. She watched as Ella hugged it tight and looked down. When the men kept their distance from her, she turned to look at Lex again and stood up. “What do you want?”

“Information, mostly,” Lex responded, watching her with a steady gaze. “I’ve been out of the loop for some time now and I’m attempting to catch up with old...friends.” 

“You’ve come to the wrong person,” she said, arching her eyebrows and glancing at her daughter then back at Lex. “I have been in Gotham for over four years, and I haven’t exactly been keeping up with them.”

He smiled faintly. “You’re one of the people I’ve been wanting to catch up with.” 

Chloe started at him for a moment then smirked, shaking her head. “I fail to see why you would. We were barely more than acquaintances, Lex.”

This time, he smirked. “I think close acquaintances is a more accurate description, don’t you?” He didn’t give her the chance to respond. “I’ll admit, I was surprised you had a daughter since the last time I saw you. I must admit, my curiosity about her father is very peaked.” 

She did the best she could not to react to what he was saying, even though her jaw clenched a little, she forced it to relax. “I don’t know why, I’m sure if you were able to find out her name, you must have also found out I was married.”

“Ah, yes, Jimmy Olsen.” He leaned back in his chair, but didn’t take his eyes off her. “I have to say, she looks nothing like him. She does have very pretty brown eyes, though. They sort of remind me of someone else...who would that be? Oh, yes. Davis Bloome.” 

“Do I need to explain recessive genes to you?” She asked, cocking her head. “Davis was a murderer, surely you read about that too.”

“Yes, according to various sources you were instrumental in harboring him from the police.” He arched an eyebrow.

She crossed her arms over her chest and arched her eyebrows. “We have all made mistakes.”

“Was Ella one of those?” he asked curiously, leaning forward.

“I would _never_ call my daughter a mistake,” she said tightly. “And I don’t know what you’re trying to insinuate by bringing Davis up,” she lied. “But I suggest you hurry up and make your point.”

“On the contrary, Chloe. I think you know exactly what I’m insinuating by bringing up Davis Bloome. The one thing I’d never accuse you of is being ignorant.” Lex smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You’ve always known what’s going on with the people around you. For instance, Clark Kent.” 

Chloe ignored the remark about Clark and stared at Lex. “She’s not Davis’,” she told him tightly.

“We’ll see,” he said, arching his eyebrows and looking up at the monitor. A woman had entered the room, and was approaching Ella with a long q-tip.

“What the hell are you doing?” Chloe demanded, stepping forward, toward Lex.

“A simple DNA swab,” he answered, not the least bit intimidated by her.

She glared at him, then turned around and rushed to the office door. They had arrived in the room within seconds of leaving this one, so she knew Ella had to be close enough for her to stop this.

But the door was locked from the other side. 

“If she’s not Davis Bloome’s daughter, you have nothing to hide, nor to be worried about from me,” Lex informed her with faint amusement. “Right?” 

Wrong. She turned to face Lex again, her jaw tight, her hands curling into fists. She glanced up at the monitor, her stomach dropping when she saw the woman collecting the sample from Ella. When her eyes focused on Lex again, they were dark with anger. “You have your sample, let us go.”

“There’s one more thing I need from you before I let you go,” he told her, rising to his feet. He looked toward the unconscious man who lay on the ground a few feet away.

Chloe glanced at the man whose face was still covered. Now that it wasn’t so dark, she could see the rips and blood stains on his clothes. Whoever this was, he had put up a fight. “What do you want?”

Lex opened the top drawer of his desk and removed a small gun. “All you have to do is shoot him.” 

“What?” She frowned, shaking her head and staring at the gun. “No. He’s unconscious, why can’t you shoot him?”

“I prefer not to get my hands dirty. And we both know you’ve killed before,” he said easily.

“No, I haven’t,” she said tightly. “And why would I kill someone _for you_?”

Lex smirked. “So the name Sebastian Kane doesn’t ring any bells?” 

She had no idea how Lex knew about him. And she almost told Lex he knew what being possessed by Braniac felt like, but she didn’t know how much he had been able to find out about Clark and all that, so she kept her mouth shut. “Why can’t you have one of your men do it for you, then?”

“Because I want _you_ to do it,” he informed her.

“Why?” She pushed, her stomach tightening. She had the feeling this person was someone she knew. One of the guys, maybe? But there was no way Lex would have managed to link her to any of them.

“Because if you don’t, you’re never going to see your daughter again.” His voice was cold now, full of warning.

Chloe’s stomach turned as she looked up at the monitor. Ella was still hugging the teddy bear, but one of Lex’s men had moved to stand right next to her, his hand was resting over his gun. With a deep breath, she looked down at the unconscious man on the floor and closed her eyes for a moment. There was no question she was going to pick her daughter’s safety over the well being of a supposed stranger, but she couldn’t just kill him. 

“If I shoot him, you will let us go.” She clenched her teeth and looked over at Lex. Once she had the gun, at least, she would have the upper hand, but that didn’t mean she was going to get to Ella on time, not when the door was locked and she had no idea what was outside of it.

“I have no reason to keep you here. I’ve already gotten half of what I wanted.” He looked at her, holding the gun out to her.

Chloe stepped closer to him, her heart beating faster against her chest as she took the gun. It would have been so easy to just shoot him instead and end whatever this was, but she couldn’t risk Ella. 

With a deep breath, she pointed the gun at the unconscious man and stood up straight.

“The sooner you get it over with, the sooner you can go back to your lonely life and forget all about this.” Lex’s voice was a whisper right behind her. 

“Get away from me,” she said tightly, glancing at him over her shoulder. She knew she had to concentrate. If her hand shook even a little...

He smirked, taking a step back and waiting, his eyes dark.

Chloe focused on the man again and aimed, holding her breath and forcing her eyes to stay open before she fired. 

The man groaned, rolling onto his side and clutching at his injured arm. 

“That was hardly a kill-shot, Chloe.” 

“I asked you if I shot him, you would let us go.” She wrapped her fingers tightly around the gun, her stomach turning at the pained noises the man was making as she turned to face Lex. “I did.”

He sighed, but looked at her for a moment. “All right. A deal’s a deal. I think I’ll enjoy watching my men deal with him for a few hours, anyway.” He held his hand out for the gun.

Chloe stepped away and shook her head. “Bring me Ella first.”

“That’s not how this works.” There was amusement in his tone. 

“I don’t care how it works, Lex. I want my daughter,” she said tightly, lifting the gun and pointing it at him.

He arched an eyebrow and looked at the monitor above his desk, nodding toward it. One of his men held a gun to the little girl’s head. Lex looked back at Chloe. “And you can have her as soon as you hand over the weapon.” 

She could tell that Ella was crying, she had to get to her, so she stepped backward toward the door. “Take me to her, Lex, and we will leave. I would never hurt anyone in front of her.”

“It’s a bulletproof door, Chloe. You won’t get in without a key.” 

“Then open it,” she urged. “I’ve done what you asked me to, you have her DNA, now let us go.” She glanced just a second when the man groaned louder and tried to move, but focused on Lex again. She had to get Ella far away from him before the results came out.

“As soon as you hand over the gun,” he repeated, taking a few steps toward her.

“Why would I take your word for it?” She asked, even though she knew she didn’t have a choice. 

“Because you have no other choice,” Lex said simply, holding his hand out for the gun.

Chloe looked at the monitor again, then at the man. He was bleeding heavily now and unless she got Bart to come to him soon, he wasn’t going to make it either. With a deep breath, she held the gun out and stared at Lex. If he wanted to kill them, he was going to and she was only delaying the process. She had to do whatever she could to get to her daughter.

“Thank you.” Lex took the gun from her, moving back to his desk and locking it away in the drawer once more before moving to the bleeding man’s side. He smiled a little as he untied the bag was covering the man’s head, then removed it entirely, tossing it aside. “We won’t be needing that anymore.” 

Her eyes widened when she looked at him, her chest clenching when he looked back at her. “Oliver.” She breathed, her eyes tearing up a little.

And then the lights went out.


	3. Chapter 3

“And you said you didn’t have contact with Clark Kent anymore,” Lex said, sounding disappointed in the darkness. 

“Where is Ella, open the door!” Chloe yelled, she couldn’t imagine how terrified she must be now. 

“As soon as I can see the door, I’ll be happy to open it,” he said wryly.

Chloe reached inside the purse she still had with her and pulled her phone out. She illuminated the door a second later. “Hurry,” she said tightly, but her phone went dark within a couple of seconds and shut itself off completely.

He fumbled around his desk in search of a flashlight, but just as he grasped it in one hand, pain shot through his face and he hit the ground hard. “What the--” 

“Mommy!” Ella called, panicked and a second later, there was a light of a flashlight in the room. 

Chloe didn’t hesitate before stepping forward and picking up her daughter, only a second later realizing Batman had been the one carrying her. She stared up at the man for a moment, then pointed to the floor. “He needs a hospital.” 

Batman simply nodded and moved over to Oliver before picking him up. “Follow me,” he grunted at Chloe.

* * * 

Batman had dropped the three of them at the hospital within minutes, not only had he saved them, but he had also recovered the DNA swab on his way out, and had handed it to her as she was getting out of... whatever was that thing that he drove. As soon as they got out of the car and Oliver was taken in by a couple of nurses, Chloe called Bart and asked him to go take a look at the place Lex had had them in, but had decided against giving the younger man any details. 

She checked in at the nurse’s station then headed to the cafeteria. It was hardly McDonalds, but she wanted Ella to eat something. She was shaken up, but the more Chloe did her best to explain that Lex was just an ‘old friend’ and that everyone just got scared when the power went out, the more Ella seemed to relax. After they ate, they went back to the waiting area and even though she fought sleep as hard as she could, Ella had finally nodded off. Even as she slept, however, she kept her arms and legs around her, but Chloe didn’t mind. She would do whatever she could to comfort her and help her forget this, no three year old should be exposed to Lex Luthor. 

They had been there for about half an hour when Oliver’s phone began to ring. Chloe hesitated before answering it, someone could be worried about him, after all. “Hello?”

“Who is this?” a female voice demanded. “Where the hell is Oliver?” 

Chloe winced at the question and took a deep breath. Apparently Oliver hadn’t changed much. “This is Chloe Sullivan, I’m a friend of his. Who is this?”

There was a long silence, and then, “Mia. Where is he? Is he all right?” 

“He’s at Gotham General, he was shot in the arm, but he should be okay. They are still with him,” she said carefully. Whoever this woman was, she seemed genuinely concerned about him.

“He was _shot?_ ” There was fear in her voice. 

“Yeah,” Chloe said guiltily. “He was just brought in here about an hour ago, I don’t know much more than that.”

“If he wakes up before I get there, tell him to stay put. I’m on my way.” Now the woman just sounded determined. Without waiting for a response, the line went dead.

Chloe blinked and stared down at the phone for a moment before setting it on top of her purse. Looked like Oliver had actually found someone who cared about him beyond his money if she was willing to come all the way to Gotham. And considering she hadn’t read about Mia in the tabloids, maybe he was actually making an effort in keeping her a secret. Now she just hoped the woman made her way here before he woke up so that she wouldn’t have to see him at all. 

A second later she was hit by a strong gust of wind. “Didn’t find much of anything of interest at the warehouse,” Bart told her, holding out a portable drive from a computer. “But here’s everything on his hard-drive.” 

She smiled a little at him and took a deep breath, nodding. “Thanks. We might need to alert the others that he’s up to something.”

“I can do that,” Bart said, nodding, too and glancing at the sleeping girl in her arms. “Is she okay?” 

“Yeah,” Chloe nodded a little, glancing at her daughter then looking back at him. “He had Oliver, Bart.”

Bart’s eyes widened. “Is he all right?” There was worry in his voice.

She nodded a little and took a deep breath, looking down then back at him. “He was shot in the arm. But Batman brought us here shortly after so, I think he’ll be alright. Still waiting on news from the doctors.”

“Which arm?” he asked, growing still. Which for Bart, was a bit of a miracle.

“Left,” she answered, holding her breath, suddenly glad she had chosen that arm and not his right one and hoping he would heal completely without any issues.

He relaxed a little at that, nodding and rising to his feet. “I’m sure he’ll be okay.” 

Nodding, Chloe pursed her lips together. “I will wait here for news. Why don’t you go talk to the others and let them know what is going on? I’ll call you as soon as I know more.”

He hesitated, glancing around. “You sure you’re safe here? I mean with Lex running around Gotham...” 

“He won’t come after me right now,” she said confidently. “But we will need to keep a close eye on him from now on.”

“No kidding,” he agreed, watching her for a moment. “All right. I’ll be back. If you need anything, call my cell.” He flashed her a grin.

“I will, thanks for coming so quickly,” she said sincerely and smiled at him.

“For you? Any time, Chica.” He winked at her and vanished a second later.

Chloe shook her head and sat back a little. It was good to know that no matter how much time went by, they could still count on each other. Even Oliver, who she knew none of them had been speaking with since he decided to leave Metropolis.

* * * 

“Excuse me, Ma’am.” A female doctor made her way into the waiting area. “Are you here for Oliver, by chance?” 

Chloe looked up and nodded at the doctor. “Yes, how is he doing? She asked instantly.

“He’s recovering, and we expect that once he’s fully healed, he won’t have any issues,” she said, arching her eyebrows. “Are you Mia, by chance? He’s been asking for a Mia.” 

She pursed her lips together and shook her head. “No, I talked to her, but I believe she’s in California. She’s on her way here, though.”

The doctor nodded. “I see. Would you like to see him?” 

Chloe hesitated then nodded a little. “Yeah, if it’s okay if she comes with me? She’s out, but she will wake up if I try to move her.”

“That should be fine,” the doctor assured her with a nod, leading her down the hallway and to a room on the right. “We haven’t moved him to a private room yet, but we’re working on it.” 

“Thank you,” Chloe told the doctor as she made her way into the room. “As much privacy as you can get him, that would be great.” She knew Oliver wouldn’t want anything about this on the front page and even if the staff had privacy contracts, other patients didn’t.

“Of course,” she agreed, nodding once more and heading away.

Hesitating, Chloe shifted Ella in her arms then stepped forward, her heart was suddenly beating fast against her chest and as she saw his arm in a sling, the guilt was nearly overwhelming. 

Seeing movement from the corner of his eye, he turned his head toward her and stilled. “Thought that voice sounded familiar.” His own voice was quiet, impossible to read.

She held her breath when he spoke and nodded a little, taking a couple more steps toward him and pursing her lips together. “How are you feeling?”

“Disoriented,” he admitted, rubbing a hand over his face.

“You were drugged, I think,” she said quietly but didn’t move any closer. “Do you know you’re in Gotham?”

“It occurred to me it was a possibility when Batman pulled me out of wherever the hell we were.” He winced, struggling to sit up.

“I don’t know how smart it will be for us to talk about this here,” she told him, pursing her lips together.

“It can wait till I get dressed and out of here.” He flung the sheet that was covering him down to his feet.

Chloe tensed and shook her head. “I don’t think that’s smart, you--” she paused and took a deep breath. “You have lost a lot of blood. And I was asked to tell you not to go anywhere.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “By whom?” 

“She said her name was Mia?” Chloe told him. “She called and I had your phone so I answered it. She seemed really worried about you, said she was on her way.”

His eyes widened a little at that. “You talked to Mia? Is she okay? Did she say?” His voice was filled with concern.

Chloe smiled a little at the concern in his voice. “She seemed okay, if you want your phone to call her, you can reach in here.” She shifted her purse to her side with her hip.

His gaze shifted to the little girl in her arms and he held his breath for a moment, then reluctantly dropped his gaze to her purse, reaching inside and retrieving his phone.

She pursed her lips together and once he had his phone, she pulled away again. “She just called maybe half an hour ago.”

He groaned. “She’s probably already on the jet.” He quickly dialed her number and waited, not surprised when it went to voicemail immediately. 

Chewing on her bottom lip, Chloe nodded. “I guess if they release you, you can come with me until she gets here?” She offered, mostly out of guilt. The last thing she wanted was for Ella to wake up and Oliver still be around.

Oliver pursed his lips, hesitating. “You’re living in Gotham?” 

“Yeah, for a few years now,” she said, nodding again.

“It’s dangerous.” His voice grew quiet.

“Not nearly as dangerous as Metropolis with Lex around,” she told him quietly.

He looked away, falling silent for a moment. “Right.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. 

“We’ll talk later,” she told him quietly, pursing her lips together and glancing over her shoulder. “I can call the doctor and ask when they are planning on letting you go, if you want?”

“If you wouldn’t mind. I’m not staying overnight,” he said, looking at her once more.

“I’ll see if I can find her,” she told him, nodding before turning away from the bed, adjusting Ella in her arms and heading down the hall.

Oliver nodded, too, and raked a hand through his hair, watching her go. Of all the things he’d thought he might wake up to, running into Chloe Sullivan again hadn’t been one of them.

Chloe came back a moment later and nodded at him. “She’s working on the release papers. She said she will send you with some painkillers but you will need to take it easy and see a doctor again in a couple of days.”

“Great.” He swung his legs over the edge of the bed. 

“They... were pretty rough on you when they picked you up, weren’t they?” She asked, wincing.

It occurred to him that she could see his back thanks to the useless hospital gown that parted at the back. “It wasn’t an invitation,” he agreed quietly.

She kept her head down and nodded a little. She had no idea how she was going to tell him about shooting him, but she knew that at least that, she had to tell him.

“Are you both okay?” Oliver questioned, looking at her over his shoulder, worry etched in his features.

“Yeah.” She nodded a little. “We weren’t hurt.”

“Good,” he said quietly.

“Do you... want to wait for Mia at my place? Or would you be more comfortable somewhere else?” She asked, holding her breath. They had to talk regardless, but they could technically do that anywhere that wasn’t public.

Oliver studied her for a moment, hesitating. He couldn’t read her expression. “I’m okay with your place, unless you’ll be more comfortable somewhere else.” 

“That will be fine. At least I can put her in bed,” she said. “Why don’t I start out to find us a cab and you can meet me after you sign out?”

“All right,” he said softly. “Just be careful.” 

“You too.” She glanced at him over her shoulder then headed back out. Her arms were falling asleep so at least she could sit while she waited for him. 

He watched her go once more and held his breath. He had a feeling that it was going to be a long, long night.


	4. Chapter 4

They had made it to the apartment in no time. It was late, past eleven, so the streets were pretty deserted. Most people didn’t dare go out this late at night in Gotham. She told Oliver to have a seat and went to get Ella into bed. She woke up slightly when Chloe was changing her, but went back to sleep in no time. She must have been exhausted from being so scared. 

Once she made sure she wasn’t waking back up, Chloe closed the door most of the way and made her way back to the living room. “Can I get you anything?” She offered, booting up her laptop that was on the dining room table then turning to look at him.

He was holding a framed picture that was usually set on her coffee table. It was a picture of her and Ella together at the school’s playground. They were both smiling in the picture, and there was a faint smile on Oliver’s face as he gazed at it. “I’m okay,” he told her, setting the picture back down, as well.

She nodded a little, then started the coffee pot before making her way back into the living room. “What were you able to pick up from what happened?” She asked, her stomach tightening when she saw him looking at the picture. Better get down to business and get him out of there before things got personal.

“Not a lot. I was in and out of consciousness. But I recognized your voice.” He paused for a moment, and looked over at her, arching his eyebrows. “And I know Lex made you shoot me.” 

“Oh.” She looked down and took a deep breath. “I’m really sorry, Oliver. I know that doesn’t really mean much, but I had to do anything I could to have him let Ella go.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I would have done the same thing,” he said honestly, shaking his head.

“I didn’t know it was you until after,” she said quietly as she sat down on the edge of the couch.

“It doesn’t matter.” 

She sighed softly and nodded a little. “Were you in Star City when they came after you?”

“Yeah. Leaving work,” he admitted, looking over at her for a moment, then rising to his feet, looking around the living room.

“I don’t know what he’s doing here in Gotham, but I asked Bart to raid the place as soon as Batman dropped us off at the hospital,” she stood up again and pulled a flashdrive from her purse. “Apparently all he could find is here.”

“Hopefully it’ll have some information, at least, though I already know why he wants _me_ dead.” He pursed his lips.

Chloe nodded a little and plugged the flashdrive on her computer before going to grab a mug of coffee. “I’ll forward this information to everyone. He said something about reconnecting with old friends. I don’t think any of us are safe.”

“And he already knows where you are,” he added quietly.

Nodding a little, she rubbed a hand over her head and turned to look at him again. “I don’t know if hiding will make a difference at all, not when it comes to Lex.”

He pursed his lips, then exhaled, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “No, but there may be safer places you can go.” 

“Like what? Metropolis?” She said, shaking her head and sipping on her coffee. “Besides, I can’t just up and move, Oliver. We have lives here.”

“You won’t have lives at all if Lex has his way.” 

“If he wanted to kill us, he would have,” Chloe told him, straightening. “What are you thinking, anyway?”

“Maybe,” he murmured, shrugging a little. “I’m wondering if this is really Lex, or if this is Lex 2.0.” 

“Like a clone,” she said, walking to the desk and picking up her laptop then setting it on the coffee table and sitting down on the couch.

“Exactly,” he agreed, watching her for a moment.

“I’ve considered that,” she admitted. Especially since she knew exactly how Lex had supposedly died before. “Are you still in contact with Emil?”

Oliver paused. “You’re the first one I’ve spoken to in years.” 

Chloe looked at him for a moment then looked down and nodded a little. “I told Bart about what happened. He was worried about you and he probably told the others already.” She glanced over at him. “You might get calls in the next day or so.”

He drew in a breath, looking down at the floor and nodded. “Thanks for the heads up.” 

“I know that you probably don’t want to have much to do with the rest of us,” she said quietly, her stomach clenching. She just needed him to confirm that he didn’t and things would be so much easier. “But I think we need to keep up communication, at least as far as Lex is concerned.”

“It isn’t that,” he said, his chest tightening as he looked away from her. “But you’re right. Right now we’re going to need to pool resources until he’s dealt with.” 

Chloe almost sighed when he first spoke, but nodded a little instead. “I doubt Clark will be willing to cooperate, but I will keep Lois in the loop as much as I can without giving too much away and maybe she will share information if he has any.”

“I guess some things never change.” He moved over and sat down at her desk chair.

“Meaning?” She asked, frowning a little.

“Clark not cooperating.” 

“Right, I haven’t really talked to him since he got back, but I think the boys see him every now and then,” she admitted, sipping on her coffee again.

“Since he got back?” Oliver echoed, eyebrows furrowing.

“He left. After everything happened. He went to the fortress for his training,” she explained, sipping on her coffee again. The last thing she wanted was to discuss this, but considering the day that Jimmy was murdered was the last time they all saw each other, it was bound to come up.

He blinked a few times, turning his head to stare at her. “How long was he gone?” 

“I’m not sure, exactly. A few weeks, I think.” She reached for the computer and opened up the files on the flashdrive.

“You think?” he echoed.

“I wasn’t in Metropolis anymore by the time he got back,” she admitted, glancing over at him.

“Oh.” His voice dropped, and he shook his head. “But...” 

“I got a job at the Gotham Gazette, so I moved here,” she added, arching her eyebrows and glancing over at him, hoping he wouldn’t ask too much more.

“Alone?” He swallowed hard.

“Yeah,” she told him quietly. Somehow, it didn’t feel right to tell him that there wasn’t really anyone else around. 

Oliver turned away at that, guilt washing over him and making his chest tighten once more. “Chloe...” 

“We all went our separate ways, Oliver. And Gotham may not be the safest place on Earth, but things worked out here,” she said confidently, even if the obvious guilt she could see in his face was making her stomach turn.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “For just leaving.” He shut his eyes. “It was selfish.” 

She closed her eyes too and took a deep breath. She had no idea how to do this. “Don’t apologize, Oliver. It’s what you had to do. Like moving here is what I had to do.” And she had a lot more to apologize about to him than the other way around.

“It isn’t what I _had_ to do. It’s what I chose to do.” He pursed his lips, opening his eyes and turning to face her, cocking his head to the side at the look on her face. If he wasn’t mistaken, she looked like _she_ felt guilty, which made no sense at all.

“You chose to do it because you felt like you had to at the time,” she told him, taking a deep breath and shaking her head as she looked away from him. “It’s been four years, Oliver. There’s no point talking about it now.”

Oliver held his breath as he watched her, swallowing hard. “No?” 

“Is there?” She stood up, her chest tight. “It’s not going to change what happened.”

“No, it won’t change things,” he agreed quietly, looking down guiltily once more. “But we haven’t seen each other in years and here we are. Shouldn’t we talk about it?” 

Chloe winced a little and held her breath. “What exactly do you want to talk about?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. 

She rubbed a hand over her face and took a deep breath. “Why don’t we focus on Lex for now and if you can remember, you can tell me? It looks like we’ll be in each other’s lives again, at least for a while.” She tried her best to sound neutral, almost casual, but she was hoping he’d take the offer. If they were going to really talk, to discuss everything that happened and how they got here, she was going to need time to prepare.

He winced at the neutrality in her tone and looked away once more. Obviously she wanted to keep things between them strictly business, and after everything he’d done, who was he to demand anything else from her? “Yeah,” he said quietly.

She relaxed a little and nodded. “I think regardless of what we find, we need some kind of alert system. Some kind of automated system we can all check in with every few hours and if one of us doesn’t check in, it can alert the others.”

“Not a bad idea. I bet between you and Victor, you can come up with something. Just let me know what you need to do it.” He didn’t look at her.

“Yeah,” she agreed, holding her breath when he seemed to want to be anywhere but there. Maybe it was better that way. “I’m thinking about some kind of text message based system, everyone gets a text, if they don’t reply, the others can get a text with the information of the person who didn’t reply.”

“Like a panic button.” 

“Except one that doesn’t require the other person to hit it if they are in trouble,” she said with a nod.

He was silent for a moment, considering that when he heard light footsteps approaching. He turned his head to look toward the hallway and couldn’t help but smile a bit at the sight of the blonde curls on the little girl’s head.

Chloe paused when she saw the look on his face, she set her mug down and stood up, then turned to look down the hallway. “Ella?”

“Mommy,” she called, holding her arms out, but not moving from the end of the hall.

“It’s okay,” she told her, walking over to where she was and picking her up. “Did we wake you up?”

“I had a bad dream,” she whispered, burying her face in Chloe’s neck.

Her chest tightened and she hugged Ella close. “You’re safe,” she promised. “Do you want to stay with me in the living room? You can lay down on the couch until I go to bed, then I’ll take you with me.”

Ella nodded against her silently, hugging her tighter. 

“Do you want some hot chocolate?” She offered, whispering in her hair, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Or warm milk?”

“No, thank you.” She peeked up over Chloe’s shoulder and over at Oliver. “Who’s that?”

Chloe’s chest tightened at the question and she hugged Ella to her for a moment. “That’s Oliver,” she said carefully before pulling her head back to look at her daughter. “Do you wanna say hi?”

Oliver held his breath and then offered the little girl a soft smile. “Hi,” he said quietly, lifting his hand in a wave.

Rubbing a hand over Ella’s back, she hesitantly turned around and started toward the living room.

He shifted from one foot to the other as he watched Chloe move to the couch with the little girl in tow. “I should probably go.” He glanced toward the door.

Even though Chloe laid her down on the couch, Ella got up on it and looked over at Oliver. “Are you Mommy’s friend?” She asked curiously.

Oliver hesitated, glancing at Chloe and arching her eyebrows. “I guess so,” he said uncertainly.

“He is,” Chloe told Ella quietly, not wanting her to be afraid of Oliver. She turned back to him and shook her head. “You can wait for-- Mia to get here. It’s probably better if you’re not out there alone.” 

“I don’t wanna intrude on family stuff,” he said softly, voice just barely audible. “I’ll just grab a hotel room. It’s not a big deal.” He drew in a breath, managing a faint smile as he looked at Ella again. “It was nice to meet you.” 

Ella stared up at him and smiled a little then nodded as she leaned against her mom.

“Just... make sure you’re safe out there. Do you still have the same number?” Chloe asked worriedly as she wrapped an arm around her daughter.

“No,” he admitted, pursing his lips. 

She nodded slightly and got up, pulling her phone from her purse and holding it out to him. “Can I have it?”

He met her eyes for a moment, then moved to her side, taking her phone and programming his number into it wordlessly before handing it back to her.

Chloe held her breath and nodded a little. “I’ll text you, so you can have my number.” And so she could start tracking him again, just in case.

“All right. Be careful,” he said quietly, before turning and heading for the door, unlocking it and opening it.

“You too,” she told him just as quietly, pulling the door open a little more and watching him. “The Hilton is probably in the safest area of the city, by the Wayne towers.”

He turned, glancing at her once more, and nodding. “Thanks,” he said quietly, adjusting his arm in the sling and then making his way outside, disappearing down the street moments later.

She closed and locked the door securely a moment later then took a deep breath. Now she had to get Ella to sleep, call Lois and then get started on her research.


	5. Chapter 5

It was nearly three in the morning when he heard the knock on his hotel room door. He rubbed his good hand over his face and rolled out of bed. He’d left Mia a message on her cell phone so she knew where to go when the jet landed, which it apparently had. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, unlocking the door and opening it a moment later. He flashed her a lopsided smile and stepped aside to let her in. “You really didn’t have to come all this way.” 

“Right, are you stupid? I call and get told you’re in the hospital and you expect me to sit on my ass? What the hell happened, who were those people? What did they want with you?” She asked quickly as she walked into the room.

He quickly shut the door and locked it once more. “Those people work for Lex Luthor. And he pretty much wants me dead.” He arched his eyebrows.

Her eyes widened. “ _Why_?”

Oliver sighed softly, leaning against the door for a moment. “Because I killed him. Or I thought I had.” He looked down at the floor. It wasn’t something he was proud of, and it wasn’t something he had told Mia about before.

She was pretty sure her eyes couldn’t get any wider. “He’s gotta be a bad guy for you to do something like that.”

“What I did wasn’t right, and I know that,” he said quietly. “But you’re right. He’s a bad guy. A _very_ bad guy.” 

“I don’t care if it’s right,” she said with a shrug. “Him hurting people, shooting _you_ isn’t right either. I don’t even know the guy and I already wish he was dead.”

“I care.” Oliver gazed at her. He needed her to understand that killing people wasn’t the answer, even if it was easier in some ways. “We will stop Lex, but not by killing him.” He pursed his lips. “And Lex didn’t shoot me. He forced someone else to.” 

Mia’s eyes narrowed at that and she shook her head. “What do you mean?”

“That we’ll find a way to lock him up this time. For good. So he can’t ever hurt anyone else.” 

“No, how did he force someone to shoot you? How does that work? Why didn’t he do it himself? Is he a coward too?”

“Yeah, he’s a coward, too. And he managed it by threatening the life of a woman’s little girl if she didn’t shoot me instead.” 

Mia stared at him for a moment, her jaw tight. “And why can’t we kill him again?”

Oliver reached out and rested his hand lightly on her shoulder. “I’m okay, Mia. And so is Chloe and her daughter. That’s what’s important.” 

“Wait, like the Chloe you told me about? The one who answered your phone? She was the one who shot you?” Mia asked, frowning.

“Yeah.” He chewed the inside of his cheek. “She didn’t even know it was me.” 

“That’s fucked up,” Mia told him, frowning.

“That’s Lex for you,” he said grimly.

Mia sighed and shook her head. “So, what do we do?”

Oliver motioned to the beds. “Right now? We sleep. It’s late, and there’s nothing else we can really do right now. The rest we’ll figure out in the morning.” 

She glared at him. “What if he shows up here and takes you again?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Despite the glare she was giving him, he could see the fear in her eyes. He knew her way too well to buy into the idea that she was pissed off at him. “Mia. He won’t. I’m all right. Everything’s okay.” 

“Fine, but we leave tomorrow and we go far away from him,” she said firmly. 

He wrapped his good arm around her, hugging her gently. “Come on. Get some sleep. We’ll figure everything out tomorrow.” 

Mia looked at him for a moment then sighed. “Fine. But if he kills you, I’m killing him. Just so you know.”

“He won’t kill me.” At least not if he got any enjoyment out of _torturing_ him first. He guided her to one of the beds and kissed her forehead before moving over to the other one.

She sat down and sighed a little, then pulled her boots off and laid down. “Wake me up if you hear anything,” she told him.

“I will. Goodnight, Mia.” 

* * *

Chloe hadn’t been able to sleep at all. Between the threat of Lex, Ella’s nightmares and Oliver being there, there was just too much she had to figure out. She started by doing research on the documents Bart had recovered from the warehouse but there hadn’t been much they could use. 

Lex apparently had files on most of them, but the only information he had there were public records and information found on news articles. That would have been good news, if Chloe didn’t think there were other files, much more comprehensive, somewhere else. So she emailed the team with what she had found, with the explanation of the device she had suggested to Oliver for their safety, and with the suggestion of a meeting that night. 

Those things took most of what was left of the night, so next morning, she told Ella she didn’t have to go to school. Chloe took her to have breakfast at McDonald’s instead and then headed into work. Luckily, her editor knew that before Lex disappeared, he had been the one to fire her from the Planet for personal issues he had with her, so when she explained that Lex might be coming after her and Ella, he agreed to let her work from home for as long as needed, and if she was needed to be in on meetings, she could either bring Ella or participate via video chat. Since leaving her daughter’s side wasn’t an option, this was definitely a big weight off her shoulders. 

She had also spoken with Lois several times since she called her the previous night. She was worried, of course, but Chloe had managed to convince her to stay in Metropolis with Clark, so she could keep a closer eye on Lex and keep her updated. 

The worst part about all this, however, was that she knew the reason why Lex was after her and Ella. And on top of that, she now had to deal with Oliver and the team without bringing that particular reason up. She didn’t know if it was even safe for her to keep that information to herself, but she didn’t know how to face the questions she was obviously going to get otherwise. Her daughter’s safety obviously came first, but she wasn’t sure she would be any safer if the truth was out. Definitely not if Lex found out. 

By the time they made it back home, Ella was finally tired enough for a nap, since she had barely slept the previous night. So Chloe put her down and checked her email, when she saw the confirmation from the entire team about tonight’s meeting, she knew she couldn’t avoid contacting Oliver anymore. Still, she texted him, asking him if he was available tonight, instead of calling, knowing his girlfriend had flown in late last night, she didn’t want to interrupt anything, and she wasn’t really ready to talk to him again, anyway. 

When she texted, he looked up from his laptop, which thankfully, Mia had thought to bring along with her on the jet--probably because she wanted to play video games during the flight. Regardless, it was allowing him to stay in touch with his employees at Queen Industries, so he wasn’t going to complain. He picked his cell phone up, drawing in a breath at the question she’d sent him. 

Was he available tonight? He was. But he also knew this meeting wasn’t going to be just the two of them. She’d no doubt already contacted the rest of the team, and was ready to start formulating a plan to deal with Lex Luthor. He chewed the inside of his cheek before responding: 

**Yes. When and where?**

Chloe took a deep breath when she saw his reply only seconds later. At least he hadn’t called. **My place, 9:30.** She had no choice but to invite him over, her connection was secured, so having him talk to the team anywhere else wasn’t an option. Definitely not from a hotel network.

 **See you then,** he texted back. He glanced over to where Mia was still asleep, face buried in a pillow.

“Quit staring at me, it’s creepy as shit,” she muttered against the pillow but didn’t lift her head. 

He smirked involuntarily, shaking his head. “First of all, I’m not staring. Secondly, I was wondering if you were going to get up today. It’s almost one in the afternoon.” 

“Well, I had to fly halfway across the country last night since you got yourself kidnapped,” she said, finishing with a yawn as she stretched. “I’m starving.”

“Nothing like blaming the victim,” he said lightly, setting his phone down on the small table. “Order whatever you want from room service.” 

Mia sat up and made a face. “Can’t we grab something on our way to the airport?”

“We’re not heading to the airport yet,” he told her, not looking at her. He knew she wasn’t going to be thrilled with that answer.

She groaned at that and reached for the menu on the small table. “Why not?”

“Because I have to meet with some old friends tonight,” he admitted quietly.

“Can’t you do it over the phone?” She asked, glancing at him then going back to look at the food.

“Afraid not. The lines may not be secure,” Oliver told her.

Mia sighed a little. “I just think we need to leave here as fast as possible,” she told him.

“I know you do.” He looked over at her. “And I want to go home, too. But right now, we need to pool resources with people who know more about what’s going on than we do.” 

She made a face and nodded slightly. “Yeah, guess at least you can help protect each other from the evil bald dude, too.”

“Anything look good on that menu?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Pancakes, eggs, bacon, OJ. What do you want?” She asked, holding the menu out to him.

“Lunch,” he told her with a wry smile. He’d already been up for a few hours, working quietly at his computer, as best he could one-handed since his injured arm was in a sling. 

“It’s always time for pancakes,” she told him, shrugging a little. “Pick fast, did I mention I’m starving?”

“I’m just gonna get a caesar salad,” he answered, holding the menu back out to her.

Mia nodded a little and picked up the phone, she placed their order then turned her attention back to him. “So what time are we meeting with your friends?”

“Tonight. 9:30.” Oliver glanced at his laptop screen, and then down at his phone.

Groaning a little, she nodded at him. “And what are we doing until then?”

He suppressed a smile. “Well, I’m working. But you can watch TV, or make use of the indoor pool downstairs.” 

“Didn’t exactly pack a bathing suit,” she pointed out to him, arching her eyebrows.

“TV it is then.”


	6. Chapter 6

Just past nine, Chloe managed to get Ella in bed. She didn’t know if she was actually going to sleep, and since they might not be able to hear her, she left the baby monitor on. She set up the computers in her office rather than in the living room so they could close the door and not have to worry about the noise level. 

Then she went to the kitchen and poured herself a mug of fresh coffee. She still hadn’t really slept. She had napped with Ella a little in the afternoon, but she wanted to get this over with before she even attempted to force herself to relax. 

A few moments later, Oliver stood outside her door with Mia beside him, giving her a small smile before knocking quietly. He didn’t want to ring the bell in case Chloe’s daughter was asleep.

The door opened a moment later and Chloe started to smile then pause, her eyes widening a little. “Hi,” she said uncertainly when she saw the girl she assumed was Mia. What was Oliver thinking, bringing his girlfriend to something like this? He had to know better, even if she knew about his secret, she couldn’t know about the rest of them. What was Oliver thinking, period?Because as Chloe took a second look at the girl, she was sure she couldn’t be more than seventeen or so.

“Chloe, this is Mia. Mia, this is Chloe,” he introduced them, taking a deep breath. 

Chloe managed to smile at her a little. “Come on in,” she said, but once the girl was inside, she gave Oliver a look. Apparently he had changed and not for anything good.

He cocked an eyebrow at the look she gave him, but didn’t ask. Yet. “Any chance there’s a TV or video game set-up Mia could use while we talk?” 

“A TV would be fine. Or a magazine.” Mia’s voice was a little nervous, wary.

She relaxed slightly at that and nodded, heading to the living room. “TV is over here, just make sure it’s not too loud. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem, but Ella hasn’t been sleeping well.”

He gave Mia a reassuring look and nodded silently, watching as she headed over to the sofa and reached for the remote. Then he looked back at Chloe, gazing at her silently. 

Chloe looked at the girl for a moment longer, then back at Oliver and took a deep breath.   
“This way,” she told him, heading down the hall.

Oliver followed her, glancing around as he did. “Am I the first one here?” 

“They aren’t coming in person,” she told him as she walked into the office, her voice a little dry. “I just figured you didn’t have a safe place to connect to Watchtower from.”

“Oh.” He pursed his lips at that, taking note of her tone and stepping inside the office behind her. “The hotel wouldn’t have been the safest location, no.” 

“You can close the door,” she told him, arching her eyebrows a little as she reached for the baby monitor on her desk and turned it up.

Oliver shut the door behind them, leaning against it for a moment. “I didn’t have a choice not to bring her. She’ll be fine out there. She’s not a snoop.” 

“Does she know? About you and the team?” Chloe asked, eyes narrowing a little.

“She knows about me. And that I use to work with other vigilantes. Beyond that, no.” His voice was even. 

“Good,” she told him, staring at him for a moment then taking a deep breath. She couldn’t keep her mouth shut, not about this anyway. “I know we haven’t seen each other in a long time, and it’s really none of my business...” She paused. “But isn’t she far too young, Oliver?”

He stared back at her, disbelief flickering over his features. “Who exactly do you think she is?” His eyes were wide now.

“I have no idea. All I know is that she was worried about you, she flew across the country to be with you and she knows your secret. Clearly she’s someone who means a lot to you, but I’m still trying to figure out what you’re thinking,” she told him, frowning. 

“She’s someone I helped about a year ago,” he informed her, voice distant. “We’re not sleeping together. It’s never been like that. She’s a _kid_ for Christ’s sake.” 

Chloe’s eyes widened a little and she stared at him for a moment, then rubbed her hands over her face. “Right,” she told him, suddenly feeling incredibly stupid. But Oliver hadn’t always been great with his choices. Still, she should probably have given him a little more credit. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed.”

“Well, everyone else does, so why would you be any different?” His jaw was tight, but he looked away. “Don’t worry about it.” He looked at the screens that were set up around her office. “We should get started.” 

She sighed and turned to face the screens. She’d apologize to him again later, now they had to figure out how to keep everyone alive and away from Lex. “Watchtower and Green Arrow online,” she said as she connected, eager to get this done.

It had been years since he’d seen any of the others, though he’d always kept track of them when they made the news. He’d kept a scrapbook of their heroics, and also of all the articles that Chloe or Lois had written about any of them. But he hadn’t really been prepared to see the familiar faces, even if they were just on camera. It made his chest tighten painfully and he held his breath.

“Hey,” Bart greeted as he showed up at the monitor. 

“We’re all here,” Victor said as the monitors showed all of them standing at the Clocktower.

“Hey,” he said, shifting uncomfortably, looking back at his former friends. 

“Hey,” AC greeted, lifting his hand in a wave. 

Chloe glanced over at Oliver and took a deep breath, then focused on the others. “Have you guys read everything I sent?”

“Yeah, but there’s one thing I don’t understand,” Dinah said, looking worried. “Why did Lex want you and Ella?” 

Oliver fell silent, knowing the answer to that, but not about to point it out to the rest of them.

She held her breath at that and stared up at the monitors, her jaw tight. “He didn’t say much,” she lied. If she was going to tell anyone, she knew it had to be Oliver. Or maybe Lois. But not Dinah and the whole team. She shifted and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m guessing it might have something to do with my mother.”

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, pursing his lips. “Or possibly just revenge in general. Maybe he knew she was aware that I had killed him. Or tried to kill him. Whichever the case may be. It’s hard telling.” 

Her jaw clenched a little at Oliver’s response. He seemed to be a little too close to the truth for comfort. “I don’t think we need to discuss his motives at length right now, it doesn’t matter. Lex will come after everyone he used to know for whatever reason he can come up with. We need to focus on watching his every move and making sure we’re all as safe as we can be.”

“Definitely, Gorgeous,” Bart agreed, nodding a little and looking at his friends. “Just tell us what you want us to do.” 

With a deep breath, she nodded a little at Bart then started talking about the security system, but she avoided looking at Oliver as much as possible as she did. This couldn’t be over soon enough.

* * * 

Oliver was relieved when the call ended. His shoulders slumped a little and he rubbed his good hand over his face, glancing toward the door. “Thanks for playing hostess,” he said quietly. “I should get Mia and head back to the hotel.” 

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little as she shut off the computer. She hesitated and looked at him for a moment. “I’m really sorry about what I said earlier, Oliver.”

He drew in a breath, too, letting it out slowly as he looked back at her. “It’s fine,” he answered, looking down for a moment. “I haven’t always made the best life choices, and I know you’re aware of that.” He shook his head a little. “We don’t really know each other anymore.” 

“I guess we don’t,” she said quietly, her chest tightening. “But we both also know I’m not in a position to judge anyone else’s bad choices.”

Oliver looked away. “Maybe neither one of us is in a place to judge the other, all things considered.” 

“Maybe.” She looked down and tightened her arms around herself. She knew that wasn’t entirely true and she didn’t think he’d say that if he knew.

From her stance, he knew she was already uncomfortable and he hated that he was going to make it worse. “I won’t say anything to the others. About why Lex is interested in you and Ella. But you really should consider going somewhere safer.” 

Chloe blinked a couple of times at that and stared up at him, frowning deeply. “What do you mean?” 

He met her eyes. “Isn’t she Davis’s daughter?” 

Her stomach turned and she let out her breath before rubbing her hands over her face and turning to pace the room. She suddenly felt trapped in there, backed into a corner with no way out, and she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. “I would never have slept with Davis,” she said tightly.

At that, he suddenly felt like she’d punched him in the gut and he stared at her, his face drained of all color. “Did he--Chloe...” His voice was barely audible.

Her jaw tightened and she turned to look at him, her eyes bright with tears. She didn’t want to say it, but she didn’t feel like she had a choice. “She’s not _Davis’_ ,” she told him, her voice shaking. 

Oliver relaxed visibly at that, not understanding why she was so upset. “I’m sorry I--” And then he froze, staring at her as she stared back at him. No. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t possibly be telling him that Ella was _his_ daughter.

When she saw the look on his face, she knew he understood. Swallowing hard, she took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around herself again. She wanted to turn away and to not look at him, but she forced herself to stay put, because she knew she owed him more than that.

Oliver opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, dazed. He leaned heavily against her desk, blinking rapidly.

She stepped away from him and leaned by the window, giving him as much space as she could while still being in the room. She wanted to explain to him something, everything, but she had no idea where to start. She had no idea how he was going to react after the shock was over.

“We were careful,” he murmured.

“I know.” She dropped her hands to her sides. “But you were the only one...”

“Right.” He swallowed hard, staring at her silently.

“I think he knows,” she whispered, sighing deeply and pushing herself away from the wall by the window. “Or at least suspects. He wouldn’t have brought you here otherwise, he wouldn’t have made me do that to you.” 

“That’s not necessarily true. Lex hates me, with good reason. If he thinks Ella is Davis’s daughter, that probably explains his interest in _her_.” He pursed his lips, shaking his head. “But he does know we knew one another.” 

“Maybe he doesn’t, and I’ve never had her DNA tested or anything, so he wouldn’t be able to find records anywhere, but when it comes to Lex, I’ve learned to expect anything,” she told him. “But when he was talking to me, before, the name of her father was what he wanted to figure out. He knew it wasn’t Jimmy.”

Oliver rubbed a hand over his face, shutting his eyes. “Whether he has any idea it’s me, or if he thinks she’s Davis’s, he’s interested.” And obviously that wasn’t good.

“I know. The difference is, if he knows it’s you, he won’t try to lock her up in a lab. But he might want to use her against you.” She added the last part in a quieter voice. She suddenly felt numb to this whole thing, like she could barely process the fact that he _knew_ after all this time. She couldn’t imagine how overwhelmed he must feel. 

His chest tightened painfully at that. “So what do we do?” he asked very quietly, barely audible.

“Everything we just planned with the others,” she said quietly, then took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to think you have obligations, Oliver.” They had slept together _once_ after all, when they were both slightly drunk, after her birthday party when she had been absolutely miserable. She knew he had just been trying to make her feel better then, and there had never been anything between them. Before, or after that night.

He stared at her in disbelief. “You’re kidding me, right?” 

She frowned at the question. “You have your own life, you didn’t know about her. It doesn’t have to change. You said it yourself earlier, we don’t even know each other anymore. I’m not expecting anything from you.”

Oliver’s jaw tightened ever-so-slightly and he forced himself to take a deep breath. “I know about her _now_ ,” he said tensely. 

Chloe straightened at the look on his face and forced herself to take a deep breath. “We will talk about this once you’ve had time to think.”

“You really expect me to just walk away, don’t you?” 

“I don’t know what I expect,” she said, her voice as neutral as she could manage. “But I don’t want you to make decisions before you think things through because _if_ you decide to be a part of her life, you can’t change your mind later.”

His chest tightened once more, this time from the realization that she had no reason whatsoever to think he wouldn’t do just that. He swallowed hard, shutting his eyes for a moment. “I should go.” He stood to full height once more.

She rubbed a hand over her face and nodded a little. “You can give me a call when you’re ready to talk,” she offered. If he was ready to talk. 

“I will,” he said, voice quiet as he turned away from her, opening the door and heading out into the hallway.

She took a deep breath then followed him out of the room, frowning a little when she heard voices coming from the living room.

Oliver paused just outside the living room at the sight of Mia and Ella on the floor together. Ella was on Mia’s lap while the older girl read her a picture book she was holding onto. Ella had a teddy bear clutched in her arms, and looked perfectly content.

Ella looked up when she heard them, and smiled. “Mommy, I made a new friend,” she said happily, but sleepily. 

Holding her breath, Chloe forced a smile on her lips and nodded. “I see that, that’s great,” she said quietly. She knew Oliver didn’t need to see Ella right now.

He held his breath, too, eyes locking on the little girl. He wondered how he hadn’t seen it before. She had _his_ eyes, and his dimples. Other than that, she looked just like Chloe. 

“I didn’t hear her get up,” Chloe told Mia when she saw Oliver standing there and staring. “Thank you for watching her, you could have gotten me.” 

“We were reading stories,” Ella said with a yawn.

“It’s fine,” Mia told her, eyebrows furrowing at the look on Oliver’s face. She looked back at Chloe, setting the book aside almost reluctantly. “Finish it later?” she asked Ella with a small smile.

When Ella pouted, Chloe stepped closer. “It’s bedtime for everyone, you and Mia can finish the story some other time,” she told her daughter. 

“Okay.” Ella reluctantly allowed her mom to pick her up and wrapped her arms around her neck before laying her head on her shoulder.

“Night, Kiddo,” Mia said, rising to her feet, and picking up the book, setting it on the coffee table where she’d found it. 

“Goodnight,” she whispered sleepily, smiling at Mia then looking over at Oliver. 

“Thanks again,” Chloe told Mia quietly.

“Sure thing.” She frowned at the way Oliver was still staring at Ella. 

He managed a weak smile to the little girl. “Goodnight,” he whispered.

“Goodnight,” Ella said quietly and waved a hand at him. 

Feeling vaguely nauseated, Oliver looked at Mia. “We should get back to the hotel.” 

“Yeah,” Mia said, frowning a little and opening the door. 

Ella waved at Mia too and smiled. 

“Night,” Chloe said, rubbing Ella’s back gently.

“Night,” he echoed, following Mia out of the house and closing the door behind them.


	7. Chapter 7

The cab ride back to the hotel from Chloe’s was silent. Oliver had barely moved after crawling into the backseat of the car and when it stopped outside the hotel, he made no move to get out, either. He could feel Mia’s eyes on him, and he knew she had a lot of questions she was dying to ask. But he couldn’t bring himself to look at her. Not when he knew what she’d think once he filled her in on what he’d found out. Not when he wasn’t sure that Chloe had _any_ interest in him actually being part of their daughter’s life. 

After a long moment, he exhaled slowly and opened the door, sliding out and then reaching back with his good hand to help her out, as well.

When he finally moved, she got out too but kept her eyes on him. She didn’t like the look on his face and she was dying to ask what had happened, but she was afraid of the answer. For all she knew, the bald bastard, as she chose to call him, had already gotten to one of his other friends.

He led the way into the hotel, and all the way to their room before he finally looked at her, swallowing hard as he held the key card out silently.

Once she had unlocked the door, she opened it and the second he was inside, she took a deep breath. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“I have a daughter.” His voice was barely audible.

“What?” She gasped, her eyes widening.

He just nodded, moving over and sitting down on the edge of his bed.

“What do you mean you have a daughter?” She asked, walking over to him then pausing. “You mean Ella?”

Oliver nodded again, looking up at her, lips pursed. “She’s mine.” 

“Holy shit,” Mia murmured, sitting down on her own bed and staring at him. “You had no idea?”

“No idea,” he echoed, still looking stunned.

“Wow,” she said quietly. “I didn’t even know you and Chloe...” She waved a hand and made a face. “Nevermind. So, why didn’t she tell you?”

“It’s complicated,” he said just as quietly, looking down at the floor. “We haven’t really spoken in years.” 

“Still, if you had a daughter, you had the _right_ to know,” Mia told him, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I wasn’t exactly in a good place the last time Chloe and I saw each other. I wouldn’t have told me either.” 

Mia frowned a little at that but let it go. “What are you gonna do?”

“I have no idea,” Oliver admitted, exhaling slowly. “I don’t know _what_ to do.” 

She watched him for a long moment, still frowning. “You’re not just gonna pretend you don’t know, right?”

“I don’t think I could,” he said quietly. “But I’m not sure that Chloe wants me to be a part of her life. I don’t...I’m not sure about anything.” 

“Why would she have told you at all if she didn’t?” Mia pointed out. “You’re acting like this is a bad thing. It’s not like someone died, you know?”

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing,” he said, shaking his head. “And she told me because she was backed into a corner.” He rose to his feet, beginning to pace the floor.

“But you guys were friends, once, weren’t you? You just hadn’t seen each other in a while. I bet she will be okay with you seeing her.” At least she hoped so.

“It may not be safe for me to be involved in her life.” His voice was almost inaudible.

“Because of Lex?” She asked.

“He wants me dead.” 

“Oh.” Mia nodded slightly. “But we’re figuring out and taking care of him, so eventually, it will be safe.”

“Eventually,” he agreed quietly, moving over to the window to look out. The city skyline was dark and gloomy, apparently a storm moving in on the horizon. Which suited Gotham pretty perfectly.

“If you want her to be a part of your life, we’ll figure it out, Ollie. I mean, she’d be lucky to have you,” she said sincerely.

He couldn’t help but smile faintly at her words. He knew she meant it. “Thanks, Mia,” he said just as sincerely. “That means a lot.” 

She smiled back at him and nodded. “It’s true,” she said with a shrug.

He looked back at her, silent for a moment. “You’re right. I want to be part of her life.” He held his breath.

“I knew it,” she said smugly and grinned. “At least you know you make cute babies.”

“Like there was any doubt?” 

“Whatever,” she teased, smiling at him. 

“It’ll be a big change. For everyone, you included.” He gazed at her.

“Well, yeah. But I don’t think it will be bad. She’s cute,” Mia said then paused. “But there’s no way in hell I’m moving to Gotham.”

“Definitely not,” he agreed, arching his eyebrows. In fact, he was going to try very hard to convince _Chloe_ to move. But he knew that wasn’t going to be an easy task by any means.

“Okay, cool, as long as you agree, I’m cool with whatever,” she told him. 

Oliver smiled at that, his expression filled with warmth. “Thanks, Mia.” His voice was quiet, sincere. 

She smiled back at him then nodded. “Okay, I’m gonna go shower and then crash,” she told him, standing up and heading toward the bathroom.

He watched her go, then turned to look out the window once more, staring outside and laying his forehead against the cool glass. He watched lightning streak across the sky, then shut his eyes. He had a daughter. And he’d been such a self-absorbed jerk that Chloe hadn’t even wanted him to know.

* * * 

“How much longer?” Ella asked impatiently as she bounced on her feet and held onto the sides of her dress. 

“Not much longer, about ten minutes or so, if they are late,” Chloe promised her, trying for a smile even though she felt nauseous she was so nervous. She hadn’t expected Oliver to call her so soon. Part of her hadn’t expected him to call at all. But apparently he wanted to come this afternoon so they could talk. 

Ella had been excited when she told her Mia would be coming by again. She wasn’t around many, or any teenagers so apparently she liked having someone who was younger than ‘mom age’ to play with. The good thing was that at least they would be able to talk without having to be careful with their words because Ella would be listening. 

When the doorbell rang a couple of minutes later, Chloe took a deep breath and stood up. 

“They’re here!” Ella grinned, bouncing more. 

“They are, let’s go get the door,” Chloe told her, holding out her hand then checking to make sure it was them before unlocking and opening the door.

“Hi,” Oliver said, holding his breath. He had a couple of bags in his hands, and so did Mia. He glanced at his young protege briefly before turning his attention to Chloe again. “Hi,” he said again, forgetting he’d already said it. Apparently she wasn’t the only one who was nervous.

“Come on in.” Chloe invited them and then frowned a little at the bags. “What is all this?” She asked as she stepped to the side. 

“Can I see?” Ella asked, peering into the bag Mia was carrying.

Mia grinned at her. “We brought you some more books,” she told the little girl, moving inside the house and opening one of the bags she held. 

“I love books!” Ella grinned excitedly. 

Chloe frowned a little and took a deep breath. She supposed she knew his answer, then. But it wasn’t that simple.

Oliver pursed his lips, nodding slightly at the frown on her face, knowing exactly what she was thinking. “I also brought some stuff over to make lasagna later. I hope that’s okay.” He chewed the inside of his cheek.

She took a deep breath then looked over at Ella. “Why don’t you take Mia to your room so she can see your other books too?” She suggested. 

Ella reached for Mia’s hand and smiled. “Come see!”

Mia glanced at Oliver, giving him a reassuring smile and then following the little girl toward the hallway. “I can’t wait.” 

Chloe waited until they were out of sight before taking a deep breath and turning to look at Oliver. “What are you doing?”

His face fell a little and he looked down for a moment. “Giving you my answer.” 

“We agreed to _talk_ , Oliver. You can’t just come in here with gifts and food and assume that’s what you have to do to be a part of her life. This isn’t how it works,” she said tightly.

His eyes narrowed when he looked up at her once more. “The books were Mia’s idea, not mine. My idea was dinner.” His voice was tense, too.

“It doesn’t matter whose idea it was. If you decided you want to be a part of her life, you and I need to talk about it. You need to understand that I will need to get to know you again before we even consider telling her anything. I don’t know what your life has been like, I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but I have been working on being her mother for almost four years, you don’t just become a father because you found out you made her. Whatever you want to do, you need to talk to _me_ first,” she told him firmly. She knew she was being harsh, but she knew Oliver wasn’t one to think things through and she knew there was no way he could have considered everything in less than twenty-four hours.

His jaw tightened a little more the more she talked. “It was some _books_ , Chloe. I didn’t buy her a pony,” he said just as firmly. “And yes, you’ve had four years to learn how to be a parent, but I wasn’t _given_ that option, was I?” He gazed at her intently. Even though he understood why she hadn’t told him, it didn’t mean she had the right to treat him badly for not knowing. How _could_ he have known? “But you told me I had family, and I’m not going to turn my back on that, whether you’re happy about it or not.” 

“I have no intention of not allowing you to be around her if that is what you _really_ want,” she told him. “But I had my reasons not to tell you then, reasons that go beyond her being a product of a one night stand and you know I did. So if you do want this, you will need to show _me_ that you can do it. I won’t have her get attached to you just to have you vanish again, change your number and email and pretend like the rest of us don’t exist. The team _was_ your family and you turned your back on all of us. So yes, I do have my reservations when it comes to letting you in her life and dinner isn’t going to change that.”

Oliver stared at her for a long moment and forced himself to take a deep breath. “You want to know what I’ve been doing for the last year and a half?” He pointed down the hallway to where Mia and Ella had gone. “I’ve been taking care of a teenager whose dad was an abusive douchebag her entire life. She was living on the streets and in and out of crappy motel rooms for years.” He pursed his lips. “I’ve been patrolling the streets of Star City as Green Arrow since I went back. And yes, I left the team, but I’ve also been funding _all_ of their various bank accounts and activities. After everything that happened with Lex and Davis, I didn’t think I was capable of anything else. Not until I met Mia. And I understand you have reservations, and quite frankly, so do I. I’m not perfect and I’ve never pretended to be. But I thought the two of us agreed to try and leave our judgements at the door. Because this is never going to work for anyone if you want to keep believing the absolute worst of me.” 

She glanced down the hallway and took a deep breath, mostly worrying about what kind of things Mia had gone through but as he continued to talk, she turned her attention on him again. “We did agree to do that, but that was before Ella was involved,” she told him, arching her eyebrows. “And I will admit I’ve made plenty of mistakes before, I’ve been reckless and I’ve taken risks I shouldn’t have taken, but not when it comes to her. Everything I do is for and because of her, Olive,r and that includes making sure whatever we decide, is the best for her too. And that means you will need to _listen_ to, you will need to _tell_ me whatever it is you’re planning until you are comfortable enough with her and you know her well enough. That means you and I will need to talk every detail out before you jump into her life. You don’t get to make decisions, you don’t get to make choices. Not yet. You don’t know her.”

“I’m not saying that I do,” he answered, chewing the inside of his cheek and looking down for a moment. “But I want the chance to.” He was quiet for a moment. “Chloe, I get why you didn’t tell me. I really do. I was an enormous jerk. But I have changed. And the books...Mia was going to tell her they’re from her, not from me. She won’t make the connection. I’m not trying to buy her. Or you.” He looked down at the bags in his hands, and then held them out to her. “You can keep these if you want.” 

Chloe watched him for a moment then took a deep breath and started toward the kitchen but didn’t take the bags from him. “You can leave them in here for now,” she called, rubbing a hand over her face and allowing herself a moment to pull herself together.

He reluctantly followed her into the kitchen, putting away the cold items and leaving the rest in their bags on the table, falling silent. 

She watched him then leaned against the sink. “You have to understand that this will be a huge adjustment for all of us. Ella and I are both used to it just being us, occasionally Lois, but that’s it. I will be extremely protective of her and I will not go easy on you if I think you’re doing anything that could hurt her in any way, even if it’s unintentional.”

“I don’t expect you to go easy on me,” Oliver told her honestly. “But maybe we should start working on some ground rules.” 

Chloe nodded, watching him closely. She was almost surprised at how determined he had been sounding during this argument, but she guessed that was a good thing. “I agree. My main one is that you’re not going anywhere with her without me. Not until I’m comfortable with it. And probably not at all until Lex is dealt with.”

“Agreed,” he said, nodding. “Which leads me to my first concern.” 

“Which is?” She asked, arching her eyebrows.

“That none of us is safe here. Not just from Lex, but from all the other crime and trouble, as well. I know you have a job and a life here and I’m not demanding you to give it all up, but I’m asking you to consider moving somewhere safer. At least temporarily.” He pursed his lips. “I don’t want Mia here any longer than necessary.” 

She gave him a look and took a deep breath. “I can consider it, but there aren’t any places where we will be safe from Lex.”

“Then we’ll forge a safe place.” He folded his arms across his chest, leaning back against the counter and thinking. 

“And I assume you’re going to suggest Star City for this safe place?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest and arching her eyebrows. It figured.

“Or Metropolis.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “If you’re in Star City, I’ll be around. If you’re in Metropolis, Clark will be around. And I know you and Clark aren’t really close anymore, but I also know that if something happened, he’d do his best to help both of you if you needed it, regardless.” 

“Metropolis is even more dangerous than Gotham, all of Lex’s networks and labs are there. He would know where we are every second of the day,” she told him with a shake of her head. “Metropolis isn’t an option. At least here, Batman seems to be doing a good job at keeping Lex out of his city, or knowing when he is around anyway.”

He did his best to ignore the sting from the unspoken words. “You don’t think I could keep you safe.” 

“I never said that, but you are his biggest target,” she pointed out. 

Oliver pursed his lips, looking away for a moment. “Then where would you feel safe?” 

“I don’t know,” she said sincerely, sighing. “I do think it would be better if we were somewhere where it’s not just the two of us. I think the more team members we have stick together now, the safer we will all be, I just don’t know how we can make that work.”

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, shutting his eyes. “I think I might.” 

Chloe frowned a little at that and arched her eyebrows. “What are you thinking?”

“That we could all stay at my parents’ mansion. It’s more than enough space for everyone on the team, plus Mia and Ella, and with a few extra security measures, it would be like Fort Knox. Only...much nicer.” 

She considered him for a moment and cocked her head. “I guess that’s an option. Is the place being used at all?” She asked carefully, not knowing if he had some kind of staff that still lived there.

“I have people who keep it up-to-date and things, but no one’s lived there in a long time.” He held his breath.

Chloe nodded a little at that. “It might work, as a temporary arrangement,” she agreed. “Especially if it has been empty, maybe we just need to make sure no one knows that has changed to begin with.”

His eyes widened a little at that. “Are you suggesting we’ll be doing our own cooking, cleaning and lawn mowing?” He bit back a smirk, waiting for her reaction.

There was a hint of a smirk on her own lips and she arched her eyebrows. “Nice try. We’ll just let the grass grow and we will have Impulse go pick up food for us. I’m not sure what you mean by cleaning, though.”

He smirked. “Me either. I just hear it’s something most people have to do.” 

She smiled a little at him then took a deep breath and rubbed her hands over her face, growing serious once again. “I guess that’s a good plan, we will have to check with the others and see if they agree, but I’m guessing most of them will.”

“Especially if you’re the one asking,” he said quietly, serious once more, as well. 

“They were all happy to see you,” she told him quietly but sincerely. Then she paused and took a deep breath. “Although, that does mean we will need to figure out a way to tell them.”

“They probably won’t be happy to see me after that,” he said, rubbing his hand over his face and wincing a little as he adjusted his sling. His shoulder was starting to ache. Apparently the painkillers were wearing off.

“Why don’t you sit down and rest that on the table?” She suggested, frowning a little.

Nodding a little, he moved over and sat down as she’d suggested, carefully massaging his arm. 

Chloe winced a little as she looked at his arm then took a deep breath. “Look, I don’t want anyone to think you’re the bad guy on this,” she said sincerely. “The choice not to tell you, or anyone, was mine and I’m okay with everyone knowing that. Most of them just assume she is Jimmy’s and, I guess some assume Davis’, I just never corrected anyone because I didn’t want anyone to go after you because of it. Especially Lois.”

Oliver winced visibly at the mention of Lois. She was probably going to kill him. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about Lex, he supposed. He looked up at Chloe once more. “Should we call another meeting?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah.” She held her breath as she watched him for a moment. “But we can schedule it for after dinner,” she added quietly.

His expression was hopeful once more. “You want me to cook?” 

She nodded, arching her eyebrows. “If you’re sure that’s a good idea with your arm like that.”

“Mia will help,” he told her, chewing the inside of his cheek. “Does Ella...does she like lasagna? Or is she too little to eat it?” 

“She likes it,” she told him, smiling a little. “It’s one of her favorites.”

He smiled, too, relaxing at that. “I won’t make it too spicy. What are her other favorites?” 

“McDonalds, chocolate chip pancakes, frosted flakes and spaghetti with meatballs,” she said, holding her breath a little. “Of course, she doesn’t have home cooked meals all that often since I rather not poison her or set fire to the house.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle softly at that. “Right. I almost forgot about the Sullivan-Lane clan lacking in the culinary arts department.”

“Still pretty bad,” she admitted then took a deep breath. “I guess we should have them come help with dinner,” she suggested.

Oliver rose to his feet again, moving to stand closer to her. “Thank you. For letting me be here.” 

Chloe held her breath and nodded slightly. “I’m glad you want to be,” she said quietly. “And-- I know I was harsh but, I just want to protect her. I don’t think you’re one of the bad guys.”

“Well, let’s face it.” His voice was even quieter. “I kind of was.” 

“Not to me,” she pointed out. “And... we were all going through a lot last time we saw each other. I left too.”

He nodded a little, holding her gaze. “I never meant to hurt you,” he said honestly. “But I said some pretty terrible things--” 

“So did I,” she whispered quietly, searching his eyes. “And the way I acted, too, and... not listening to you was probably my biggest mistake.”

“You were trying to do what you thought was right.” He smiled, but it was faint, sad. “I think that’s all any of us was trying to do.” 

“I agree, and like we said before, there is no point going back to this. We can’t change it,” she said quietly.

Oliver nodded slightly, hesitating and then holding his good arm out silently.

She smiled at that and stepped closer, hugging him carefully not to touch his injured arm. “I’m glad you’re around.”

He hugged her back, exhaling slowly as he rested his chin atop her head. “Me too,” he whispered.

With a deep breath, she pulled away after a moment. “I’ll go email the others and ask Mia and Ella to come help you,” she said quietly, her chest tight. Truth was, she did feel safer having him around. Having someone else to help her protect Ella from Lex.

“All right.” He smiled faintly, gazing at her.

She smiled back at him then vanished down the hallway. 

A moment later, Mia and Ella showed up in the kitchen. Ella grinned up at Oliver. “Mommy said we should help make dinner!”

Oliver’s chest tightened at the excited expression on her face, and he nodded, kneeling down in front of her. “I was planning on lasagna. Does that sound good?” 

Her eyes widened at that and she nodded, grinning then pausing. “But not with icky green stuff, right?”

“No icky green stuff,” he assured her, grinning. 

“Agreed, kid,” Mia told her, then looked at Oliver and smiled. 

“Okay! And with totato sauce?” Ella asked importantly.

Oliver grinned at her mispronunciation, nodding. “Yep. Lots of it.” 

Ella grinned back at him and nodded. “Okay,” she said then held her arms out.

He shifted carefully, wrapping his good arm around her and lifting her up. “Do you usually sit on the counter to help Mommy cook?” 

She nodded slowly and pointed. “There,” she said, showing him the counter next to the sink.

“All right.” He carefully set her down in the spot she’d directed him to.

Mia kept her eye on them but remained quiet and took a couple of steps back, but leaned against the door. 

Ella stared at Oliver’s arm for a moment then looked up at him. “Did the bad man hurt you?”

“No,” he assured her with a gentle smile. 

She relaxed a little then her eyes widened. “Did you fall?”

Oliver paused for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, but I’m okay,” he told her. “Or I will be in a few weeks. Nothing to worry about.” 

Ella smiled, content with his answer and nodded a little. “Mommy always kisses better.”

He bit the inside of his cheek, nodding at that and trying not to let his mind go _there_. That would be a complication they really didn’t need right now. “Does it help?” 

“Yeah!” She grinned brightly.

“That’s good.” He grinned, too, amused by her enthusiasm.

“What’s good?” Chloe asked as she walked into the kitchen, she glanced at Mia and smiled softly, then walked further into the room.

“Ella said that when she gets hurt, it helps when you kiss it better.” He turned to look at her, trying not to smirk.

“Oh, I do.” She nodded a little, frowning. 

“Kiss it better, mommy!” Ella said, pointing at Oliver’s arm.

Oliver ducked his head a little, amused. “It’s okay, Ella. I think it only works if they’re from your own mom.” 

Chloe glanced at Oliver and shook her head. “Why aren’t we helping him make dinner? I thought it’d be ready by now,” she teased, mostly to distract Ella and not make things awkward. She also looks at Mia over her shoulder, not liking the fact that the girl was standing off by the door on her own. “You’re helping too.”

Mia arched her eyebrows. “I supervise?” she tried.

“Nice try,” Chloe told her, then moved to pull the things Oliver had brought out of the fridge. “I’m sure there’s plenty for everyone to do, especially since there’s only so much the cook can do.”

“She’s not wrong,” Oliver said, glancing over at her and smirking. “Come on. You can lay out the noodles.” 

“This is what happens when you grow up, kid. People boss you around,” Mia told Ella, but smiled as she pulled out the package from a bag.

He chuckled at Mia, shaking his head as he looked at Chloe. “Do you have a big pot we can use to brown the hamburger?” 

“And I’ll need something to put the noodles in,” Mia told her.

“Yeah.” She reached under the sink and pulled out a pot, and a glass container then handed it over to the two of them. “I do have to say, I don’t cook much, and when I do, they are not elaborate dishes.” 

“Pancakes!” Ella said brightly.

Oliver smiled at that. “I hear chocolate-chip is your favorite,” he said, arching his eyebrows. “They’re Mia’s favorite, too. Aren’t they Mia?” 

“Yeah, when he’s not stingy with the chocolate chips,” she teased, smirking.

“Yeah!” Ella grinned, then looked at her mom. “Can we have pancakes?” 

Chloe smiled. “We’re having lasagna, you like that too. Maybe we can have pancakes tomorrow morning.”

He focused his attention on putting the hamburger into the pot she’d given him, setting it on the burner and then glancing at Ella for a moment.

Ella looked over at him and smiled brightly. “I like it too.”

“Like what, too?” he asked with a soft smile.

“‘Sagna!” She told him. 

“Lasagna,” Chloe corrected her and smiled. 

“Laaa-sagna,” Ella said, then giggled. 

Oliver chuckled softly. “I’m glad you like lasagna. It’s one of my favorites.” 

“It is?” She asked him, her eyes widening, then she looked at Mia. “Is yours too?”

Mia grinned. “He does make really good lasagna,” she said, nodding. “It’s one of my favorites.” 

“Everyone likes it!” Ella announced and smiled brightly, then paused. “And Aunt Lois?” 

“She likes lasagna too,” Chloe promised, relaxing a little. At least everyone seemed to be comfortable with the situation. It was a start, anyway.


	8. Chapter 8

The Queen mansion was _huge_. Chloe guessed it was about as big as the Luthor one back in Smallville, but it was a lot more welcoming and warm than the castle. It had taken them just a few days to arrange everything. Bart had run Vic there ahead of everyone else so he could install the equipment for security and then Oliver and Mia had gone by plane to keep up appearances and once they got there, Bart came back and picked her and a sleeping Ella up. Chloe felt bad lying to her daughter about how they got there, but it was safer than her knowing about Bart’s abilities. Besides, she was completely distracted by everything around the house. 

“Mommy, can we go to the pool!?” Ella asked excitedly as they walked back inside after taking a look around the yard and pool area. 

“I guess we will have to wait a little, we have a lot of friends who are arriving here today,” she explained, squeezing her hand.

“We do?” Her eyes were wide as she looked up at her mom.

“We do, old friends of mine. Like Oliver and Bart,” she told her, squeezing her hand. 

“And Mia?” Ella asked hopefully, eyes widening even more.

“Mia too, of course. But I didn’t know Mia before,” she explained, smiling.

“Oh.” She nodded a little, looking at Chloe curiously. “Is Mia Oliver’s daughter?” 

Chloe considered that for a moment and cocked her head, then knelt on the floor to explain. “Kind of. She had another mom and dad, but they weren’t very nice, so now Oliver takes care of her.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “Why weren’t her mom and dad nice?” 

“That happens sometimes, so the kids have to find better ones,” she said quietly, brushing her hair behind her ear. “Sometimes there are moms and dads who can’t have kids, so they try to find those who need new parents and take care of them.”

Ella thought about that, and then nodded solemnly. “But not me. Because I have the best mommy ever!” 

Chloe smiled at that and wrapped her arms around her, then kissed her cheek. “I have the best daughter ever.” 

Ella smiled, too, hugging her back and laying her head against Chloe’s shoulder. 

Chloe looked over at the window when she saw a car pulling up and arched her eyebrows, smiling when she saw Oliver and Mia getting out of it. It was only six in the morning in the local time, so it was the perfect time for them to drive over. “Look, Ella, who is here.”

“Mia!” she said excitedly, running toward the door.

She followed and helped Ella open the door, then watched as she ran right to Mia and hugged her legs. She followed outside and smiled softly. “Do you guys need help with your stuff?” She offered.

Mia grinned as the little girl wrapped her arms around Mia’s legs. She reached down, picking Ella up. “I don’t have too much stuff. Just some clothes and CDs,” she told Chloe. “I’ll get everything later.” 

Chloe nodded. “The house is pretty amazing,” she told her. 

“There’s a pool!” Ella said, bouncing excitedly.

“You’ve been holding out on me, Old man,” Mia informed Oliver with a smirk.

Oliver smiled faintly, eyes on Ella. He shifted his gaze to Mia, then Chloe. “Well, maybe later we can all make use of it.” 

“Yay!” Ella grinned then pointed. “It’s there,” she told Mia. 

When the teenager started toward the pool area, Chloe held her breath. “Hold on tight to her,” she told her worriedly. 

“I got it,” Mia assured her, smiling. 

“She’s really good with kids, and she’s practically a fish in water,” Oliver said quietly to Chloe as they watched Mia head around toward the pool with their daughter.

“Ella is usually really good at obeying, but I worry,” she told him quietly, taking a deep breath. “I trust Mia, but I can’t help it.”

He nodded slightly, glancing at her sideways. “So uh, what do you think of the place?” He held his breath.

“It’s pretty amazing,” she admitted. “I didn’t realize it would be so big, even from the outside, it doesn’t look it.”

“No,” he agreed, nodding, looking at the house and holding his breath.

Chloe cocked her head and watched him closely. “When was the last time you came here?”

“About ten years ago,” he said blankly, not looking at her.

“Are you okay with being here?” She asked quietly.

Oliver drew in a deep breath. “I’ll be all right.” 

She took a deep breath too and nodded. “If you need a break, though, I’m sure Bart won’t mind running you out for a while.”

He smiled faintly at that, glancing at her sideways and nodding ever-so-slightly. “I’ll keep it in mind.” 

Chloe smiled a little at him. “We weren’t sure which rooms to take, so we were waiting on you to figure it out.”

“I’m okay with whatever. I don’t have a preference,” he told her.

“You should have the master bedroom,” she told him quietly. “Or your old room, if you prefer. I’d just rather have a room for Ella and I that is close to yours.”

He paused at that, holding his breath, wondering why she wanted a room close to his. He tried to ignore the surge of hope that he felt, but instead, he nodded. “I’ll take the master bedroom and you guys can have my old room. Sound okay?” 

“Yeah,” she said carefully. “Are you sure you won’t mind? I mean, I’m sure you have a lot of memories in this place.”

“I don’t mind,” he said quietly. “Because it’s you and our daughter.” His voice was almost inaudible.

Chloe looked at him for a moment then took a deep breath and nodded, her chest tightening. Ella and Mia were technically the only family he had. “Okay,” she agreed quietly, watching him closely.

Oliver nodded slightly, too, meeting her gaze. “You can have your own office here, too, for your work and writing.” 

“That will be good. I’m still technically working. My editor knows the basics about my history with Lex, so I was allowed to work from home,” she told him. “Besides, I don’t want Ella anywhere near Watchtower stuff.”

He watched her, nodding again. “The basement may be a better location for Watchtower stuff.” 

Chloe nodded a little at that. “We will let Vic know when he comes back. Bart ran him to Kansas so he can separate the rest of the equipment.”

Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment. “You think she’ll be happy being here?” 

“You saw the size of our apartment, right?” Chloe asked, arching her eyebrows. “She will have room to run around, more people to play with. I think she will be sad when we have to leave.”

He held his breath at that, nodding. “Yeah,” he murmured, looking up at the house once more. 

“If you want to take a look around on your own, I’ll wait with them,” she said, nodding toward the glass doors that led outside.

“No. It’s fine,” he told her, shaking his head, chest tightening. He wasn’t really looking forward to going inside at all, let alone by himself.

Chloe nodded a little and arched her eyebrows. “Have you guys eaten? Ella will need breakfast soon.”

“I haven’t. I assume you still run on coffee.” He smiled a little.

She smiled and nodded. “I could use some, actually.”

“With a side of chocolate chip pancakes?” 

“I doubt anyone here will disagree with that offer,” she said brightly, glad that she seemed to get him to relax a little.

“Pretty sure you’re right about that.” The guys, Bart in particular, had never been ones to turn down food.

Chloe watched Mia with Ella for a moment then nodded. “I’ll help you.”

Oliver cocked an eyebrow at that. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” He pressed his lips together to keep from chuckling.

“I think I’ll be fine under supervision,” she said, mock narrowing her eyes at him. It was a little weird, when she thought about it, how easy it had been to talk to him since their argument and since they cleared everything up. Although, she guessed he had always been easy to talk to whenever they _weren’t_ arguing.

He smiled, nodding toward the house. “All right. Let’s get started then.” 

* * * 

It had been an eventful day, but after everyone had been settled in for the night, Chloe decided it was finally time to call her cousin. She knew Lois would be sad that Ella was asleep, but considering she had to tell Lois that they had moved to California and maybe even the truth about Ella’s dad, she didn’t want to risk having this conversation in front of her daughter.

“Lois Lane,” her cousin said a moment later. Apparently she hadn’t glanced at her caller ID before answering her phone.

“It’s me,” she told her, taking a deep breath then starting to pace the floor of the office Oliver told her she could use. “Are you busy?”

“I’m completely un-busy,” Lois informed her. “I’ve been completely un-busy all day, in fact.” 

Chloe paused, frowning a little. “Is everything okay?”

She hesitated a moment. “I may have sort of broken my ankle.” 

“ _What_?” Chloe gasped, her eyes widening. “What happened?”

Lois sighed heavily. “I was chasing down a lead...literally. Got into a scrape, which the Blur helped me out of, but not before my ankle went the opposite way as the rest of me.” 

Chloe winced and took a deep breath. “Glad he was there,” she said sincerely. “Please tell me this lead has nothing to do with Lex?”

“No, nothing to do with Lex,” Lois assured her. “Local political scandal.” 

“Okay, good. How long are you out for?” She asked curiously.

“Tomorrow,” she responded, arching her eyebrows. “I’m on crutches so I’m going to work.” 

“Is that a good idea, Lois? How are you getting there?” Chloe frowned.

“I’m going to make Clark drive me.” 

Chloe paused at that and arched her eyebrows. “Are you at the farm?”

There was a long pause. “It’s possible?” 

She couldn’t help but smile at that. “Sounds serious, is he taking good care of you?”

“Yeah, but the guy has a bladder the size of a pea.” She paused. “Which sounds really funny, come to think of it.” 

Pursing her lips together, Chloe smirked slightly. “What makes you say that?”

“He goes to the bathroom every five minutes. Like, almost literally.” 

Rubbing a hand over her face, Chloe pulled the phone away to stop from laughing then back against her ear. “You know, Lo. He might have some kind of infection. Maybe you should tell him to have it checked out. Sounds serious.” 

There was a moment of dead silence. “Are you saying you think _Clark Kent_ has some kind of VD?” Her voice rose an octave, and almost squeaked. Almost.

She really wished she and Clark were still on talking terms, because she wanted to hear his reaction to this whole thing. She knew she was probably only making it worse, but she couldn’t help herself. Maybe she was just around Bart and the boys too much these days. “Could be something else. I don’t know.” She paused, arching her eyebrows, this was definitely her opening. “Wouldn’t you have it too, if he did?”

“What!? _No_ ,” Lois said, sounding insistent. “We haven’t slept together yet.” 

“Just wondering,” she said quietly and shook her head. Apparently Clark hadn’t changed at all. “Are you doing okay, though? Other than your foot?”

“Well that and now wondering if Smallville has an STD. Which I assume he would have gotten from _Lana_ , right?” She made a face.

“I’m pretty sure she hadn’t slept with anyone before--” Chloe paused, squinting. “Maybe she had.”

“Well, she slept with _Lex_ ,” Lois pointed out.

“Right but not before...” Chloe made a face and shook her head. “You know what, you probably need to have this conversation with him.”

Lois made a dissatisfied noise. “You started it.” 

“And I’m ending it,” she pointed out. 

She sighed heavily. “What are _you_ doing?” 

“That’s kind of why I called,” she told her, taking a deep breath. “I’m in California.”

Lois blinked a couple of times, sitting up straighter on the sofa. “California? Why?” 

“We came with Oliver. I don’t want to give you an exact location because I’m sure your line isn’t secured, but we’re staying here for a while. Probably until everything has been taken care of.”

She paused at that. “Oliver? Oliver _Queen_?” 

“That’s the one,” Chloe said quietly. “When I called you to tell you to be careful about Lex, I didn’t exactly tell you the whole story.”

Lois chewed her lower lip. “Okay, you probably shouldn’t on this line. Just in case.” 

“Probably not.” She paused and squinted a little. “Do me a favor, leave your phone outside the door, wait about an hour, then come back for it. Just trust me on this one.”

“Ok-ay,” she said, arching her eyebrows.

“I’ll call you when it’s done,” she promised, holding her breath. “Talk to you soon.”

“All right.” Lois sounded wary. “Talk to you soon.” 

Chloe took a deep breath and left the office. She had to find Bart. Once she did, and had her cousin’s phone, she connected it to Oliver’s satellite and had him take it back. It was about an hour later when she finally called her cousin again.

“Okay, what did you do to my phone?” 

“I connected it to Queen Industries’ satellite, it’s now Lex-proof,” she said, smiling.

“Awesome.” Her eyebrows shot up. “All right, now spill the details.” 

Chloe took a deep breath. “Well, Lex kind of had Oliver. I mean, he kidnapped him.”

Lois gasped. “What? Why?” 

“Something about wanting to get to know all of us,” she told her quietly.

“Which is Lex-speak for torture us all,” she said sarcastically.

“Pretty much.” She hesitated. “He had Ella and I, too. That’s how I found Oliver.”

“But you’re all okay, right?” Lois asked anxiously.

“Yeah,” she promised. “But, we need to stay out of his sight, which is why we’re hiding here.”

“Right, okay.” She drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “So he kidnapped all of you, and?” she prompted, knowing there was more to the story that she wasn’t hearing.

“Batman showed up,” she told her, arching her eyebrows.

“Are you _serious_?” 

“Yeah, we were pretty lucky he was around. My guess is that he was keeping an eye on Luthor to begin with.”

“I’d be keeping an eye on him if I was the local superhero, too.” 

“And the local California one is doing that too,” she told her cousin. “We’ll probably be here for a while.”

“Speaking of the local California one.” Lois paused for a moment. “How is he?” 

“He’s... worried about Lex, but I think he’s okay.”

“Not drinking and partying a lot?” 

“Not at all, actually. I’m sure he’d like to talk to you sometime.” Now that she was actually talking to her cousin, she was pretty decided _not_ to mention Oliver being Ella’s dad.

“Well, that would be a nice change. I’ve emailed him like a thousand times, and left a ton of voicemails, none of which he’s ever bothered returning.” 

“I guess he was dealing with stuff,” Chloe told her quietly, not wanting to get into details about Oliver’s life. It wasn’t her place to tell Lois. “For what it’s worth, he has been wonderful to me and Ella.”

“That’s a good thing for him. If he gets out of line, I'll kick his ass. I even have a cast to do it with.” 

“I have no doubt you will, but consider that too when you talk to him? I’ll see if I can get him to call you now that your phone is protected,” Chloe said with a smile.

“I’ll take it under consideration.” She sighed.

“I just wanted to let you know what was going on, I have my phone with me at all times, so if you hear anything about Lex, let me know, okay?”

“I will,” she promised. “You, too?” 

“I definitely will,” Chloe told her, smiling a little. “I’ll try to call earlier tomorrow, so you can talk to Ella. For the record, she thinks she’s on vacation, okay?”

“I wondered what you’d told her.” Lois pursed her lips.

“She’s liking it here, she did ask why you couldn’t come to vacation with us, though,” she admitted, smiling a little. Lois had been there on every little trip they had ever taken before.

“What’d you tell her?” 

“That you had to be at work,” she said, sighing softly. “She misses you.”

Lois sighed, too. “I miss her, too. And you.” 

“I miss you too, Lo.” She took a deep breath. “I wish you could come stay with us.”

“Maybe I will in a few days.” 

She paused at that and hesitated. “I guess we would have to figure out a way to get you here without being seen.”

“Like on Ollie’s jet,” Lois suggested, arching her eyebrows.

“No, definitely not on his jet,” Chloe told her. “The second it lands in Metropolis, Lex will be tracking it, and the second he sees you coming here, he will know that’s where Ella and I are. No. I might have a different solution, but I’ll need to talk to some people first.”

“Well, if I knew the Blur’s identity and how to actually get a hold of him, I’d ask him to give me a ride. But since that’s never going to happen, I guess we’re SOL on that one.” 

Chloe winced at that and nodded. “We probably are,” she agreed. She didn’t expect Clark to tell Lois the truth anytime soon. “But let me see what I can do, okay?”

“Sure. Still not sure how you pulled off the thing with my phone, so...” 

She smiled a little at that and took a deep breath. “I should probably go, I don’t want Ella to wake up and not find me in the room.”

“All right. Give her a kiss for me.” She paused, and exhaled. “And give Ollie a hug for me. I miss you.” 

“I will, take care of yourself, okay? I’ll talk to you soon.” 

“Yeah. Love you. Bye.” 

“Love you too,” she whispered before hanging up and sighing softly. She had always been okay with keeping everything from her cousin because she knew it was for her protection. But between dating Clark, being Oliver’s ex and being related to her, she knew Lois wasn’t safe from Lex, no matter what. And things would be so much easier now, for all of them, if she knew the truth.


	9. Chapter 9

Later that night found Oliver working in the small office he’d claimed as his own for the duration of their stay at his parents’ mansion. He sat at a desk, fingers moving over the keyboard as he answered work-related emails and tried not to think too much about everything else. Pretty soon, he found himself staring out the window that overlooked the beach behind the mansion, mind drifting off. He was a father. To a little girl. For the first time since his parents had died, he had an actual blood relative. 

His chest tightened ever-so-slightly as he reminded himself that she wasn’t going to be there forever. They were only staying in Star City because it was safer than staying in Gotham. Chloe certainly wasn’t there because she _wanted_ to be. He rubbed a hand over his face, exhaling slowly, and moving over to the window, unlocking, unalarming, and opening it a little. The cool evening breeze was just what he needed to help clear his head.

When she saw the light in the office across from hers was on, Chloe decided to make a stop. She felt worse than usual about not telling Lois the truth about Oliver and Ella. She knew for sure she wasn’t going to be able to sleep, so she figured maybe talking with Oliver would help. 

Even though the door was open, she knocked and waited for him to notice her before anything else.

He turned at the sound of the light knock, pausing when he caught sight of her standing in the doorway. “Hey. Everything okay?” 

“Hey.” She smiled and nodded at him. “Yeah, I was just giving Lois a call.”

Oliver watched her for a moment, nodding, too. “How’d that go?” 

“Okay, I told her we were here with you.” She arched her eyebrows a little. “She demanded a phone call from you.”

He winced at that. “I can imagine how _that’s_ going to go.” 

“Probably won’t be easy,” she admitted, taking a few steps toward him and glancing out of the window then looking at him again. “But you can use the fact that you’re protecting her cousin and niece to your advantage.”

“Maybe. The rest won’t be so easy to explain, though.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, sitting back down in his computer chair.

Chloe sighed softly and shook her head. “No. I... never told her. I have no idea how to do that now, after all this time.”

Oliver paused at that, somewhat surprised that Lois didn’t know. She and Chloe usually shared everything, except the identities of superheroes, anyway.

“I didn’t want her to come after you and demand anything because she felt like she should,” she explained, taking a deep breath and looking outside. “I never really told her anything, but I led her to believe she was Jimmy’s. I guess she was too worried about Ella to really question anything.”

He nodded slightly, pursing his lips. “She’s gonna be pissed.” His voice was quiet. 

“She is,” Chloe agreed, sighing softly. “She might actually not talk to me for a while.”

“Blame it on me,” he said just as softly, looking toward the window.

She paused and frowned at him at that. “Why would I do that?”

“So she isn’t mad at you,” he told her.

“And so she’s mad at you?” Chloe shook her head. “She’ll get over it eventually. We’re pretty much the only family we have, at least the only family we speak with regularly.”

“She’s already mad at me,” he pointed out.

“And there is no reason for us to lie to make that worse,” she told him. “Lois is a huge part of Ella’s life, Oliver, and if you’re going to be a part of it too, I would rather you and Lois didn’t hate each other.”

“I could never hate Lois,” Oliver said honestly. “I just don’t want to be the cause of problems between the two of you.” 

“You won’t,” she told him sincerely. “It was my choice not to tell her the truth, I will deal with the consequences.”

He sighed softly and nodded, chewing the inside of his cheek.

“Trust me,” she said, trying for a smile. “I’ll figure it out.”

Oliver gazed at her, nodding again. He was silent for a moment. “I don’t think she’ll be able to stay angry with you for long.” 

“I’m counting on it.” She arched her eyebrows. “Besides, there’s always Ella.”

“Yeah, I’m even more sure Lois won’t be able to hold a grudge if you put Ella on the phone right after you talk to her.” He smirked.

“Exactly,” she agreed, shrugging. “I mean, she kinda needs me to be able to talk to Ella, she can’t stand a full week without talking to her.”

“Understandable.” He smiled faintly.

“How are you doing? With everything...” She asked a moment later, watching him closely.

“I’m all right,” Oliver answered, watching her, too. “How are _you_ doing?” 

“I’m not the one who just found out I have a daughter,” she reminded him, arching her eyebrows.

He smiled a little at that. “No, but you did just tell your daughter’s father after years of not being able to.” 

“Well, it’s not like I tried hard to find you,” she admitted, holding her breath as she looked down then offering him a small, guilty smile.

“You had your reasons,” he said quietly, looking out the window.

“Selfish ones, mostly,” she said quietly too, keeping her eyes on him.

“You wanted to protect her. That’s not selfish, Chloe.” 

“I also didn’t want to have to deal with anything,” she admitted. “Or to have more people close.”

He nodded silently, glancing back at her.

“I never did thank you for not blaming me more than you did,” she whispered.

Oliver’s chest tightened at that. “How could I?” 

Chloe sighed softly at that and she shook her head. “It’s not like I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think you’d be okay with it.”

“Do you want me to be angry with you, Chloe?” he asked, rising to his feet.

“No,” she said, frowning a little at the question and holding her breath. “But I would understand if you were.”

“Then don’t worry about it,” he said sincerely, gazing at her intently.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little but kept her eyes on his. The look on his face was unsettling, but she couldn’t quite figure out why.

Oliver was silent for a moment as he held her gaze. “Chloe, we never really...talked about that night,” he said softly.

She held her breath at that and shook her head. “There’s not much to talk about.”

“Isn’t there?” He took a couple steps toward her, shaking his head, too.

“I think we were both pretty clear on what it was, Oliver,” she said quietly, her heart beating fast.

“I’m not so sure,” he admitted, searching her eyes.

“Meaning?” She asked, frowning. 

“I’ve never regretted that night,” Oliver said honestly.

Chloe blew out a breath and shook her head. “I didn’t regret it either, not even after I found out about Ella. But I never expected it to go beyond that.” She added the last part firmly, her stomach tight. She didn’t know what he was doing, but she needed to make that clear to him.

He held his breath for a second. “If things had been different, Chloe...” He exhaled. “I would have pursued things with you.” 

She blinked a couple of times and shook her head. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I’m telling you the truth.” He gazed at her, arching his eyebrows. 

Chloe looked down and swallowed hard. She didn’t know why he was insisting on this now. She knew there was no way he would want to be involved with her like that. Not Oliver. Not _her_. She knew he had slept with her out of some kind of pity and that was not something she wanted to remember. “There is no point playing what ifs.”

“I’m not,” Oliver said softly. He did that by himself often enough as it was. “I just wanted you to know that it wasn’t just some random hookup for me. It was never like that.” 

She watched him closely for a moment then forced herself to smile even though she wanted to do anything but at the moment. “I appreciate that,” she lied as convincingly as possible. She just wanted to end this conversation. 

He could see it in her eyes; she didn’t believe him. Why would she? He’d never approached her about it after, and to say he had a reputation as a womanizer was putting it lightly. He sighed softly and looked away, nodding. 

“I should check on Ella,” she told him quietly. “It’s pretty late, I better go get some sleep before she wakes me up.”

“Yeah. First night in a new house and everything,” he murmured.

“Yeah, I don’t want her to get scared if she can’t find me,” she agreed, nodding a little as she straightened and headed for the door. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Chloe,” he whispered.

She walked up to the door then paused and with a deep breath, she turned to look at him again. “And, thank you. For letting us stay and for having everyone over here. It does make me feel a lot safer for her.”

Oliver nodded slightly. “It’s no problem. I’m glad you’re here.” 

Chloe watched him for a moment then nodded back at him and made her way out of the room, her chest incredibly tight as she did. She just hoped they could forget this conversation ever happened.

* * * 

The next afternoon it was too warm to focus on work. He could practically hear the pool outside calling his name, and after an hour of trying to answer emails and respond to phone calls, Oliver gave in, changing into swim trunks and making his way outside. He paused when he caught sight of Chloe, Ella and Mia at the other side of the pool.

Chloe smiled as Ella laughed when she dropped some water over her head gently. 

“Have you seen the swing in the back tree yet, kid?” Mia asked Ella, arching her eyebrows.

Ella’s eyes widened. “There’s a swing?” she asked excitedly.

“Oh, she will never leave it there now,” Chloe told Mia, holding her breath as she watched Ella. 

“That’s okay, there are two of them, we can both have fun,” Mia told Chloe then held her arms out to Ella. “I’ll show you.”

“Mommy, can I?” she asked hopefully, turning her big brown eyes on Chloe as she hopped up and down.

Chloe took a deep breath and kissed her cheek. “Be careful, and hold on tight, okay?”

“Okay!” she agreed, holding her arms out to Mia.

“She’ll be okay,” Mia assured Chloe as she picked Ella up then stepped out of the pool.

Letting out a breath, Chloe leaned against the side of the pool and watched them. She was used to leaving Ella at daycare and letting Lois watch her, but beyond that, she was always with her herself. It was weird how much Ella liked Mia. But in a good way.

Oliver watched Mia head away with Ella, and he couldn’t help but smile a little. He was really glad the two of them got along so well. Having Ella around was definitely good for Mia, and the opposite was undoubtedly true, too. 

Once they were out of sight, Chloe walked over to the stairs and sat on the bottom step, her upper body only partially out of the water. She wanted to keep an ear out in case Ella or Mia called.

His gaze drifted over to where Chloe was now sitting and he drew in a breath and then cleared his throat, lifting his hand a short wave. “Mind some company?” 

Chloe blinked and looked over her shoulder, holding her breath when she saw him in nothing but shorts. A moment later, she shook her head and managed a smile. “In _your_ pool? Not at all.”

He smiled faintly, nodding and moving to the edge, pursing his lips and then diving in without hesitation.

She blew out a breath and washed her face. If that was possible, he looked even better than she remembered. 

Oliver did a few laps in the pool before swimming over to where she was sitting and leaning his arms on the ledge. “Enjoying the climate?” 

“Getting used to the heat,” she admitted. Especially right now. “So the AC and the pool are very much appreciated.”

He couldn’t help but smile at that. “Yeah, it doesn’t get over sixty in Gotham very often does it?” 

“We occasionally have days if eighties and nineties in the summer, but it doesn’t usually last more than a couple of days,” she told him, reaching up and brushing a hand through her wet hair.

He held his breath as he gazed at her, nodding a little as he watched her, gaze trailing over her body of its own accord. “Yeah.” 

Her stomach clenched when she saw the look on his face. “You must be used to it,” she commented, trying to keep the conversation safe.

“Not really,” he answered absently.

“You’re not?” She asked, frowning a little.

“What?” Oliver’s eyebrows furrowed.

“The weather,” she said awkwardly, holding her breath as she stared at him.

He blinked a couple of times, forcing himself to look away from her. “Right. Yeah.” 

“Are you okay?” She asked carefully, not sure if she wanted to know.

He pursed his lips, nodding and then hauling himself up onto the ledge beside the ladder she was seated on. He raked a hand through his wet hair and drew in a breath. 

Chloe smiled awkwardly at him and nodded before taking a deep breath and dipping under the water. She emerged a moment later and adjusted her hair again, suddenly worried about it looking weird.

He watched her for a moment, then smirked a little. “Wanna race?” There was a hint of playful teasing in his voice.

Chloe cocked her head and squinted at that. “Race?”

“Yeah. You know, a little friendly competition.” He slipped back into the water once more.

“Right.” She stood up straight and stared at him. “Of course, the odds are in your favor.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Oh?”

“You obviously have a lot more physical training than I do,” she said, waving a hand at him, her eyes lingering on his absolutely perfect chest for a moment.

Oliver grinned at that, but glanced at her once more. “You look like you’re pretty in-shape yourself, Chloe.” 

“Running after a four year old hardly counts as training,” she pointed out, arching her eyebrows.

“Depends on your perspective.” 

“I just gave you my perspective,” she told him.

“And like I said, you seem pretty in shape to me.” He arched an eyebrow.

“I guess we will need to compete to see who is right,” she said, walking backward so she was against one of the far walls of the pool.

Oliver smirked, following her to the far wall. “Guess so.” His hand brushed against her arm.

She held her breath and lifted a foot to the wall. “Just to the other end or there and back?”

“Just to the other end.” He paused, biting back a grin. “Want me to give you a head start?” 

“Cute,” she said, giving him a look. “On three. One.”

He flashed her a smile, getting ready. “Two.” 

“Three!” She said, then quickly ducked into the water and pushed herself away from the wall with as much force as she could.

He pushed himself away from the wall, as well, but with less force than she’d used. Within seconds, he’d reach the far end of the pool.

Chloe got there just a second after him, she touched the wall as quickly as possible, but sighed when she poked her head out of the water, having to keep her legs going since she couldn’t reach the bottom on the deeper end of the pool. “Told you, so in a way, I still win.”

He smiled at her. “It was very close, though.” He shifted closer to her, wrapping his arm around her waist to help keep her afloat. 

She held her breath and stilled. “Well you are about twice my size, so I guess it wasn’t a fair competition to begin with.”

Oliver chuckled softly. “Size has little to do with it.” He paused. “At least in this situation.” His eyes were lit with amusement.

“Size has everything to do with it,” she said with a smirk. “Especially in this situation, you’re obviously going to get to the other side of the pool first if you’re taller and we’re the same speed.”

“Or possibly I’m just faster. Maybe I should have given you that head start after all...” he teased.

“I rather not be handed out advantage, I will take my fair loss, thank you,” she told him, smirking. She was still moving her legs, but mostly, she was letting him hold her up. Even though she knew she shouldn’t.

“At least you aren’t a sore loser,” he agreed, smirk widening a little more.

“Guess I should let you think that and not tell you about my plan to practice for two hours every day until I can beat you, right?”

Oliver grinned. “I think you just let me in on the secret,” he said, mouth close to her ear.

Chloe shivered a little when his lips brushed against her ear and she held her breath. Pulling away right now would definitely be the only good thing she could do. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She even placed a hand on his arm, but it just stayed there.

At the feel of her hand on his arm, his gaze dropped, gut tightening. He shifted his gaze to her face once more, his eyes darker than usual, pupils dilated. “You really think you can beat me?” he murmured, voice low and husky.

She blinked a couple of times, taking a moment to understand the question. “I will try,” she whispered, holding his gaze.

Oliver nodded slightly, searching her eyes, heart beating a little faster against his chest. His gaze dropped to her mouth and then lifted to her eyes once more.

Her grip on his arm tightened and she held her breath. She suddenly felt light-headed. Between the heat, his closeness, the look on his face and his lack of clothes, the idea of kissing him suddenly appeared perfectly acceptable, even though a tiny voice in the back of her head was trying to tell her it wasn’t.

He held his breath for a moment, forcing himself to pull away a little. She’d made it pretty obvious the night before that she wasn’t interested. Their one night together hadn’t meant anything to her, aside from the fact that it resulted in their daughter. “Race you back to the other end?” His voice was thick.

Chloe blinked a few times, confused for a second then her chest tightened. With a deep breath, she reached and held on to the edge of the pool instead of his arm. She had made him uncomfortable. She had probably been staring at him as she remembered what kissing him had felt like, and she had scared him away. She had been right not to believe him the previous night, but now she just felt like a complete idiot. “No,” she said, then took a deep breath. “I should-- go. Find Mia and Ella.”

Disappointment flickered over his features. “They haven’t been gone long,” he murmured.

She looked down, she felt both exposed and rejected, even if she knew it was ridiculous since it had all been in her head. “I don’t want Mia to feel like she’s watching her all the time.”

He nodded slightly. “All right.” Even though he knew Mia wouldn’t feel like that, because she adored Ella. 

Her face fell when he agreed so easily and she nodded, but didn’t wait another second before diving into the water and swimming over to the stairs again.

Oliver watched her go, sighing softly and laying his head back against the ledge of the pool. What the hell was he thinking, anyway?

With a deep breath, Chloe adjusted her swimsuit and hesitated before making her way out of the water, suddenly wishing she had a towel or something to cover herself up with. She glanced over her shoulder to see if he was looking, mostly because she liked to torture herself.

He was looking, all right. His eyes were glued to her as she moved, and he didn’t look away even when he realized she was looking back at him.

She held her breath and stared at him, but even as she started to wonder if maybe she _hadn’t_ been imagining things, she pushed that thought away and started in the direction Mia and Ella had gone. This wasn’t good, and if things had been complicated the one time they slept together, they were a lot worse now.


	10. Chapter 10

Chloe had been in a deep sleep when her phone started ringing, she untangled her arm from under Ella and reached for the phone over the bedside table. It was four in the morning according to it and when she saw her editor’s name flashing on the screen, she knew something was wrong. “Hello?” She answered even as she got up from the bed and started out of the bedroom so she wouldn’t wake Ella up. 

“Chloe?” Diana asked anxiously. “Oh, thank God.” 

“What’s wrong?” She asked, starting toward the office. It was already eight in Gotham, but still, it was pretty early and she usually emailed her anyway.

“Where are you? Are you somewhere safe?” 

“Yes.” She held her breath at the question. “Did he do something?”

“I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but...” She hesitated a moment. “Chloe, your apartment is gone.” 

“Gone?” She echoed as she walked into the office and booted up the system. “What do you mean, gone?”

“There was an explosion. A little over an hour ago.” 

She suddenly felt like she had been punched in the stomach, her eyes widened and she felt sick. “Was anyone hurt?” She asked a moment later.

“I don’t know yet,” she admitted. “I just needed to make sure that you were all right.” 

“We’re okay,” she assured her, running a hand through her hair. “We’re safe, and we’ll stay this way.”

“Good. I’ll keep you updated.” Diana was silent for a moment. “I’m not sure that returning to Gotham should be in your immediate future, Chloe.” 

“No,” she agreed quietly. “I will-- figure out what happened, I understand if you need to put me on leave or let me go. I don’t want you to have to cover for me.”

“I’m not concerned about that,” she said honestly. “I’m only worried about your life. And Ella’s of course.” 

Chloe let out a breath and nodded a little. “I can’t tell you anything, for security reasons, but I can tell you we’re safe.”

“That’s all I need to know. Just be careful, and stay safe.” 

“We will, thank you for calling. I will check in every now and then to let you know we’re okay.”

“I appreciate that. We’ll talk soon,” Diana said before hanging up.

Chloe hung up the phone and sighed deeply, shaking her head and rubbing her hands over her face before sitting down in front of the terminal. She had to figure out what had happened, and she had to make sure Lex hadn’t hurt anyone while trying to get to her.

“What’s going on?” Oliver asked, voice quiet as he lingered in the open doorway.

She jumped a little and turned to look at him. After a moment, she let out her breath and leaned back against the chair. “There was an explosion.”

He held his breath at that, taking a step closer to her in the darkness. “Where?” 

Chloe hesitated, standing up because she suddenly felt too anxious to sit down. “My apartment.” 

He cursed under his breath, then reached out, laying a hand on her arm. “You’re safe here. Both of you.” 

“I know,” she murmured. “I know we’re as safe as we can be, but-- I don’t know if he hurt anyone else.”

Oliver’s chest tightened at that and he looked down for a moment. “How many people live in your building?” 

“Three other people, the other apartments are vacant,” she said quietly. “It was my editor who called, she said she didn’t know what had happened yet.”

“Why don’t I send Bart over there to check it out?” He gazed at her intently.

“It was over an hour ago, I don’t know if it will make a difference,” she admitted.

“He can probably find out if anyone was in the building,” Oliver suggested quietly.

“I know,” she told him. “But I can listen to the scanners, I don’t want to put him through it, if he can’t save them.”

He chewed the inside of his cheek, nodding and lifting a hand to touch her cheek without really thinking about it. “Do you want me to sit with her while you check things out?” 

Her chest tightened at the offer and she nodded slightly. While she wanted him around, she also wanted some time and she would feel better if she didn’t have to worry about Ella waking up. “Yeah.”

He brushed his thumb gently over her cheek a couple of times, nodding. “Not a problem.” 

“She’ll probably wake up soon,” Chloe admitted, looking up at him. “If she’s not already up.”

He drew in a breath and nodded. “All right. I’ll check on her.” 

“I’ll take a look at this and come by,” she promised quietly.

“We’ll be fine,” he assured her, dropping his hand to her arm once more, and then turning away, heading down the hall and into the bedroom she and Ella were using.

“Mommy?” Ella asked, she was already sitting on the bed, but was squinting sleepily. 

He held his breath for a moment. “It’s Oliver,” he said, voice gentle. “Mommy’s in the office doing a little work and asked me to sit with you.” 

Ella pouted a little but nodded. “Is it time for breakie?”

“Breakie?” he echoed uncertainly.

“Breakie,” she told him, frowning.

“I...don’t know what that means,” he admitted.

“I’m hungry,” she explained, dropping her hands to her lap.

“Oh.” He paused, wondering if breakie was some kind of food. Then it dawned on him that she meant breakfast. “It’s not really breakfast time, but uh--I can ask your mom if we can go down to the kitchen and I’ll fix you something.” 

Ella considered for a moment then shook her head. “We can wait for mommy.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” He hesitated before sitting down on the edge of the Queen-sized bed. “You know...this used to be my room.” 

She cocked her head, frowning a little. “But your room is there.” She pointed at the door.

Oliver smiled at that. “I mean, when I was your age. This one was my room. And...that one--” He pointed, too. “That was my parents’ room.” 

“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “Did you play here?”

“I did,” he confirmed. “Those toys over there were mine.” 

Ella looked over at the toys then back at him. “Mommy said I shouldn’t play with them.”

He paused, chest tightening. “Did she say why?” 

“So I wouldn’t break them,” she explained, shrugging a little.

“Oh,” he said softly. He looked over at the toys in the corner, chewing his cheek for a moment, then rising to his feet and moving over to it. He picked up a teddy bear that he’d apparently loved when he was her age, and moved back over to the bed, holding it out to her. 

Her eyes widened as she stared at him, hesitating before reaching for the bear. “I can play with him?”

“Yeah, if you want to,” he said, nodding and smiling softly at her.

Ella grinned brightly at him and hugged the bear to her chest. “What’s his name?”

He couldn’t help but smile more at that expression on her face. “Cinnamon,” he told her.

“Namon,” she echoed, looking down at the bear and adjusting his tie. “How old is he?”

“Pretty old,” Oliver admitted. “About thirty years old.” 

She wrinkled her nose at that, thinking for a moment then holding up three fingers. “I’m four!”

He grinned. “I’m thirty-one,” he told her.

“How is that?” She asked, cocking her head.

Oliver held up all ten of his fingers, curled them down, then showed them two her two more times. Then he pulled all of them down but his pointer finger. 

Ella gasped at that. “That’s a lot!”

He chuckled. “Yeah, yeah it is,” he agreed, nodding. “Way more than you, huh?” 

“You’re old,” she said with a smile.

“Heeeey,” he protested playfully.

Ella giggled and covered her face with the bear.

He grinned at her reaction, reaching out and ruffling her hair lightly. 

She grinned and pulled away. “You’re Mia’s daddy.”

He held his breath at that. “Kind of,” he said softly. “You really like Mia, don’t you?” 

Ella nodded, looking down at the bear and playing with his paws. “Mommy said you’re her new daddy.”

He pursed his lips, nodding. “I take care of her.” 

She cocked her head at that and frowned. “Like mommy?”

“Like how your mommy takes care of you?” he asked, unsure.

Ella nodded, pursing her lips together.

“Yeah, kind of like that.” Oliver watched her closely.

“Mia has a daddy and I have a mommy,” she told him, distracted as she played with the bear. “And an auntie.”

His chest tightened as it occurred to him what she _wasn’t_ saying. “Yeah,” he said softly. “Your aunt Lois. She’s an old friend of mine, too.” 

“You know auntie?” She asked, her eyes widening as she turned her attention back at him.

“I do,” he said, nodding and offering her a smile.

“Can she come too?” Ella asked hopefully.

“If she can get some time off work, she’s definitely welcome here,” he assured her.

“She can play with Mia too!” She told him brightly.

Oliver wanted to reach out and hug her, but he didn’t. Instead, he smiled softly. “I think she’d like that.” 

“Mommy!” Ella said when Chloe walked into the room a moment later. “I can play with ‘namon!” 

He stood up quickly, eyes widening. He hadn’t even heard her come in. “It’s just an old teddy bear of mine. I hope that’s okay.” There was uncertainty in his voice.

Chloe arched her eyebrows a little at Oliver’s reaction, but smiled slightly at Ella before turning to him again. “Yeah, if it’s okay with you. I didn’t want anything that might bring back memories to be ruined,” she admitted to him, then turned to her daughter. “Be gentle, okay?” 

Ella smiled and hugged him to her chest. “He likes me.”

“Of course he does,” Oliver murmured, gently ruffling her hair once more. 

“Breakie now?” Ella asked him hopefully. 

With a deep breath, Chloe stopped herself from answering Ella’s question since she had directed it at Oliver. She knew she had to give them a chance to grow close, it was just hard to when she had been taking care of Ella on her own all this time.

His face fell a little and he pursed his lips. “That’s up to your mom.” 

Chloe frowned and looked up at Oliver. “Well, you’re the chef. I think it’s your decision,” she offered, arching her eyebrows and holding his gaze then nodding a little. She wanted him to feel comfortable enough to answer Ella himself.

“I didn’t know if it was too early or not,” he admitted, not quite meeting her eyes. 

“Well, we’re all up.” She turned to Ella. “Are you hungry?” 

Ella sat up and nodded.

“All right. I’ll get something started. Pancakes okay?” he asked, glancing between them.

“Go brush your teeth, then, so we can eat,” Chloe told Ella. “Leave your bear.” 

“Pancakes!” She jumped up and slid down the bed after carefully laying the bear over the pillow, then vanished toward the bathroom.

He smiled faintly as he watched her go, then he headed toward the door, as well. “See you downstairs.” 

“Oliver,” Chloe stopped him, frowning.

He paused, turning to face her again. “Yeah?” 

“If she tells you she’s hungry, I have no problem with you helping her with a meal,” she clarified, cocking her head a little. 

“Like I said, I wasn’t sure if it was too early for her to be up and eating or not.” He pursed his lips.

“I guess her body is still adjusting too. We’ll just give her a little bit and see if she can go back to bed,” she told him, taking a deep breath. “And, it seems like the elderly couple that lives at the building had just left when the explosion happened and the man is on vacation in Europe.” She wanted to tell him that to get it out of the way, it certainly had made her feel better. 

“So no one was hurt,” he said, blowing out a breath. “Thank God.” 

“I know,” she breathed. “The explosion damaged the structure of the building but they should at least be able to get their belongings out. I don’t know how my apartment looks yet, but I’m sure I’ll hear from the landlord later.” She rubbed a hand over her face and shook her head. “I’m just glad they are all okay.”

“That’s the important part,” he agreed, taking a few steps toward her. “And that both of you are all right, too.” He gazed at her. 

“Yeah,” she breathed, holding his gaze. “Thanks to you.”

Oliver shook his head. “I didn’t really do anything, Chloe.” 

“I would still be in Gotham if it wasn’t for you,” she admitted, cocking her head. 

He studied her, nodding ever-so-slightly. “Good thing I’m as stubborn as you are?” he teased softly.

“Yeah,” she breathed, smiling a little at him. “Good thing Lex kidnapped you too.”

“Lucky me,” he said lightly, resisting the temptation to look down at his injured arm that was in its sling once more.

Chloe took a deep breath and looked at his arm too then nodded. “I should go make sure she’s not making a mess.”

“I’ll go start on breakfast.” He smiled faintly and headed for the door.

With a deep breath, she watched him go, then rubbed her hands over her face and started into the bathroom. She couldn’t help feeling like every conversation between them had ended slightly awkwardly lately and that wasn’t what she wanted. She had to figure out a way to make him comfortable with them.


	11. Chapter 11

Oliver was walking past the office Chloe was using when he heard her cell phone ringing. He peeked his head in but didn’t see her, and then he remembered she was using the master bathroom to give Ella a bubble bath. He hesitated a moment, picking up the phone and glancing at the caller ID. Lane, Lois. 

Might as well bite the bullet now, he figured. 

He pressed the answer button and pressed the phone to his ear. “Hey, Lois.” His voice was quiet.

There was a long moment of silence. “So it is true. You do remember the rest of us.”

“Never forgot,” he told her, chewing the inside of his cheek. “Just got bogged down.” 

“Bogged down?” She echoed, frowning. “Would it have killed you to answer an email, Ollie?”

“By life,” he responded, sighing softly.

“You have always been dramatic,” she said with a roll of her eyes. 

He smiled a bit at that. “I suppose so. How are you?” 

“Worried about my cousin and my niece, where are they?”

“Chloe’s giving Ella a bath,” he explained. 

Lois relaxed a little. “There was an explosion,” she explained.

He drew in a deep breath, not surprised she already knew about that. “I know. Chloe’s editor called her early this morning to tell her.” 

“What are we doing about him?”

Oliver paused at that, not quite sure how to respond. “We’re working on that.” 

“Chloe won’t let me help, but you better. I’m here, there has to be something I can do.”

“Just keep an eye on his movements as best you can, while keeping your head down,” he told her.

“Not good enough. Besides, I want to see them.” Lois told him with a frown.

“Then I’ll wire you the money so you can come here,” he offered.

“It’s not about money.” She rolled her eyes. “Chloe said it wasn’t safe.”

He sighed. “It’s not the best idea, but I’d rather you come here then get yourself into trouble.” 

“She said she’d talk to you, figure something out. I’m not surprised she hasn’t,” Lois sighed, annoyed.

“It’s been kind of crazy here, Lois. Don’t be upset with Chloe.” 

She took a deep breath. “What are they doing there? How did you talk Chloe into it?”

“Into leaving Gotham?” 

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to get her to come home pretty much since she moved away,” Lois admitted. “Although I guess it’s a good thing she’s not here now.”

“I pointed out that Lex knew where she was, and they weren’t safe there. And...I convinced her to come with me.” 

“At least she’s not on her own,” Lois told him, squinting. 

“She has the best protection my billions can buy.” 

“Yeah.” She sighed. “Look, just figure out a way to get me there and call me. I’m getting impatient here.”

“All right. I’m on it. Do you want me to have Chloe call you back when she’s done with Ella’s bath?” 

“No, just when you figure out how I’m getting there. Then you and I will have a talk.”

“You realize that when you’re needing to motivate a guy to do you a favor, you probably shouldn’t tack on the scary ‘you and I will have a talk’ warning, right?” He smirked.

“You’ll be doing yourself a favor by acting fast.”

He sighed inwardly. “I’ll see what I can do.” 

“Hurry,” Lois warned before hanging up.

Oliver groaned and hung up the phone, setting it back down on the desk. He was starting to wish he hadn’t answered at all. 

* * *

After giving Ella her bath, Chloe had taken her to the bedroom to change her and the little girl had ended up falling asleep. Considering they had all woken up really early, Chloe figured a short nap would be okay, so she left her there and made her way downstairs for more coffee since she was getting pretty tired herself.

Oliver was sitting atop the counter, drinking a glass of tea and staring outside over the yard. He heard her footsteps approaching and looked over, smiling faintly. “Hey.” 

“Hey,” she said, straightening a little when she saw him and smiling. Maybe she could manage having a non awkward conversation with him this time. “She passed out.”

“She was awake pretty early.” He slid down off the counter.

”We all were.” She nodded, starting the coffee maker.

“Does that mean you need a nap, too?” he asked lightly.

“I will do this instead,” she said, motioning toward the coffee pot. “I need to give Lois a call and I want to look more into the explosion.”

He winced involuntarily. “Yeah, about that...she called while you were busy with Ella.” 

“Oh.” She arched her eyebrows and almost winced too at the look on his face. “I take it you answered?”

“Yeah. She heard about the explosion, too.” 

Chloe let out a breath and nodded. “How did it go?”

“About the way you’d probably expect.” He arched his eyebrows.

“That bad, huh?” She sighed a little. “Lois cares a lot about you, so she will probably be harder on you than she would on most people.”

“She’s definitely not happy with me. But if I managed to get her here quickly she indicated it would be better for me.” 

“Yeah, about that,” Chloe hesitated. “I was thinking of asking Bart if he’d mind picking her up. Of course then he would have to expose himself to her, but, she knows about you... I guess we’d have to see if he’d mind.”

“If Bart’s okay with it, I’m okay with it.” He pursed his lips.

“I’ll ask him when I see him,” she said with a nod. “I hate asking so much of him but it is the safest way to travel.”

“Especially now,” he agreed quietly, leaning back against the counter and finishing off his glass of tea.

“Exactly,” Chloe agreed, pursing her lips together. 

He watched her for a moment, nodding. “Do you want to talk to him? Or do you want me to?” he asked uncertainly.

“I will,” she said, reaching for a mug and filling it with coffee before looking at Oliver again. “I know the others haven’t been around as much for now, but, maybe we should start figuring out what we will tell them when they are. Especially with Lois here, I’m guessing they will find out soon enough.”

Oliver held his breath as he watched her. She didn’t seem the least bit nervous about telling the others that he was Ella’s father. Then again, that’s because the others knew both of them pretty well. There was no doubt in his mind how the picture would be painted for them. Especially not considering it was the truth. “Yeah, we probably should.” 

“Any idea how?” She asked, sipping on her coffee and leaning sideways against the counter so she was facing him.

He couldn’t think of a single way to announce to the other’s that he was Ella’s father that didn’t make one of them look bad. “The truth, I guess.” 

“I just want to make sure they aren’t blaming you for anything,” she admitted. She knew how it’d look. “I want us to make sure they know you didn’t know you were her dad.”

“Then they might blame you,” he pointed out.

Chloe looked at him for a moment and shrugged a little. “Considering I lied to everyone, I can’t really blame them.”

“It wasn’t any of their business, Chloe,” he said quietly. “And I don’t want anyone to be upset with you.” 

“They will probably be upset with both of us regardless of what we do,” she admitted. “I guess what it comes down to is that we need to let them know we’re both working on this together.”

Oliver looked down at that, nodding slightly. “Yeah.” 

She took a deep breath and looked at him, trying for a smile. “At least Ella won’t be upset when we tell her.”

He took a step toward her at that, shaking his head. “You don’t think so?” 

“I know she won’t. She will have a dad, and she will get to be Mia’s sister. I think she will be beyond excited,” she told him quietly. Even as she spoke, her stomach clenched. Ella would actually have something that resembled a normal family.

He was quiet for a moment. “But you’re not.” It wasn’t a question.

Chloe frowned at that. “What makes you say that?”

“Gut feeling,” he admitted.

She shook her head. “I think it will be complicated, but I think it will be good for her.”

“It’s only as complicated as we make it,” he said quietly.

“We will need to adjust, I’m not sure how to make that uncomplicated,” she admitted, cocking her head. “But I’m listening.”

“What if the two of you stayed here?” He gazed at her. “Indefinitely.” 

“You want us to live in the same house?” She asked, frowning.

“It would uncomplicate things. She’d have both of us around a lot. And it’s not like there isn’t plenty of space.” He held his breath.

“That’s true, but... we might be her parents, Oliver, but we’re not a couple,” she said carefully, her chest tight. She really didn’t want to have this conversation. “And things could get really complicated for both of us if we ever meet someone.”

His stomach clenched at that, and he hoped that the idea of her meeting someone else hadn’t made him grimace. “I think this is where I say, we can cross that bridge if and when one of us ever comes to it.” 

“I don’t know,” she told him quietly. “It would make things easier right now, but it might make them more complicated in the long run. I need to think about this.”

“Yeah, of course,” Oliver agreed immediately. “Take as much time as you need.” 

“Whatever we agree on, and whatever we decide, I do want you to feel comfortable with her, though. Like this morning. I know there is a lot you need to learn, but you can trust your gut feeling in the small stuff. I think it will be good for both of you.”

“I just didn’t want to upset you this morning,” he told her honestly.

“How would you have upset me?” She asked, frowning.

“You said you didn’t want me making decisions or anything,” Oliver answered, watching her. “You know, about Ella and her life.” 

“I know what I said,” she told him. “And this is what I’m telling you now. You will never become a father figure for her if you don’t start somewhere.”

“All right,” he said simply.

“You’re making this a lot easier on me, I want to help you too,” she said quietly, taking a step toward him.

His eyes locked on hers and he nodded slightly. “We can make this easier on one another,” he agreed.

Chloe held her breath at that and nodded. “We’ll figure out how.”

“We always worked pretty well together,” he murmured, voice dropping.

“Yeah,” she agreed, smiling a little at him. “We’re better together.”

Oliver’s gaze dropped to her mouth and he nodded slightly even as he moved closer to her. “Exactly what I was thinking.” 

Chloe held her breath at the look on his face. “Oliver.”

He didn’t move away, his gaze intense and filled with desire. “Yeah?” 

“What are we doing?” She whispered, her chest tight.

“Working together,” he whispered back as his mouth descended on hers, capturing her lips in a kiss.

Her stomach clenched and she closed her eyes, she wanted to kiss him back but as she lifted her hands to his shoulders, she pushed away and shook her head a little. 

Oliver’s chest tightened when she pushed him away and he instantly let go of her. 

“This would complicate things so much more,” she whispered, opening her eyes but looking down.

“Right,” he said dully, looking away.

She sighed, frustrated and rubbed her hands over her face. “This is exactly what I want to avoid, Oliver. Every time we talk, I feel like I’m making you feel bad.”

“And every time we talk, _I_ feel like I’m saying or doing everything wrong. I don’t know what you want,” he said, shaking his head.

“I want to help you have a place in Ella’s life,” she told him, shaking her head. “Whatever happened between us, I don’t want to focus on that. I don’t want to confuse her even more and I don’t want to hurt her. I don’t know what you’re trying to do or why, but I know what it meant then, Oliver, and just because we have a daughter, it doesn’t mean you should feel like you need to pretend it was something else.”

Oliver stared at her, eyes narrowing. “What is it you think it meant then, Chloe?” he questioned.

She opened her mouth to speak then closed it again, taking a deep breath before she could say this out loud. “We had sex. I was drunk and upset and you felt bad for me. I get it, okay, I have always known that’s all that was. I have told you from day one that you don’t owe me anything and I mean that. It’s not just when it comes to Ella and her needs, it’s when it comes to me too.”

If she’d just told him that she was pregnant with _Elvis’s_ baby, his mouth couldn’t have dropped open any farther. Then he wondered why he was surprised. Between what Clark and Jimmy had put her through, it was a wonder she had _any_ self-esteem at all. It made him so angry he wanted to shove a little green rock up Clark’s ass. “You think I felt bad for you?” His voice grew even more quiet, his jaw tense.

“I know that’s what it was. That’s why you came back,” she said tightly.

He gave a harsh laugh that was utterly devoid of humor. “I came back because I didn’t want to leave in the first place,” he informed her, taking a step closer to her, eyes intense. 

“So now you want me to believe you were actually interested in me? I’m not that delusional, Oliver,” she said sharply, crossing her arms over her chest. If her ego had been crushed before, it was pretty much destroyed now.

“No, you just have no sense of confidence when it comes to recognizing when a man wants you,” he bit out before he could stop himself. “I blame Clark for that, mostly, but Jimmy didn’t help either.” 

“I have seen the women you’ve slept with,” she told him then took a deep breath and shook her head as she rubbed her face. She couldn’t believe they were actually having this conversation.

“And what? You think you don’t compare?” he asked, jaw tightening more. “Because that’s the biggest pile of crap I’ve ever heard.” 

She stared at him in disbelief and shook her head, her chest tight. “I don’t know what you’re doing this, but I do know you were still in love with Lois when we slept together, so stop trying to make me believe otherwise because you have some crazy idea in your head now. This isn’t the 1940s, Oliver. Having a child together doesn’t mean anything for the two of us.”

“You don’t, actually,” he informed her, narrowing his eyes. “And stop trying to convince yourself you know what I’m thinking or feeling when it’s transparently clear that you _don’t_.” 

“You’re being crazy, Oliver. That’s all I’m getting from this conversation. We barely even knew each other then,” she said stubbornly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Oliver blinked a couple of times. “Barely even knew each other?” he echoed. “We were working pretty damn close for months at that point. We knew each other’s darkest secrets. And for your information, no, I wasn’t still in love with Lois at that point. And I sure as hell wasn’t in love with Tess, before you decide to toss her name into the mix. Did you ever stop to think maybe the reason I didn’t try and pursue things with you is because you and Jimmy had _just_ split up?” He shook his head.

She stared at him for a moment then shook her head too. “So you were okay to have sex with me but not anything else?” She took a deep breath. “And we were working together, Oliver, but nothing else. I have worked with everyone for all this time, that doesn’t mean I expect anything from them, either.”

He honestly wanted to bang his head against the wall. “I was drunk, too, okay? If I hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have been okay with just taking advantage of the situation you were in. And maybe it wasn’t anything else for you, no.” He looked away, feeling exhausted and drained. He rubbed his hands over his face.

“After all this time,” she said tiredly, shaking her head. “Why are you telling me this now, then?” Of course, it didn’t mean she believed him, but she was tired of arguing in circles.

“When was I supposed to say something before? On your wedding day?” he questioned, sounding just as tired. “Or right after the love of your life was murdered because of me?” He shook his head, turning and walking out of the kitchen toward the back door.

“Jimmy died because of _me_ , Oliver.” She stared at him even as he walked away, but didn’t follow.

He didn’t answer, simply walked outside. He really just needed some air.

She stared after him then leaned against the counter, setting her elbows over it and her face over her hands. She wished she could just leave.


	12. Chapter 12

Chloe was pacing the floor from the second Bart left to pick up her cousin. She figured it’d be awhile for him to explain everything to her, but she just wanted them to get there already. She and Oliver hadn’t exchanged two words since their talk earlier that day and she had decided the best thing she could do was to ignore that whole conversation completely. She figured that’d be easy enough to do with Lois around.

“Whoa.” When Bart set her down on solid ground once more, Lois blinked a few times rapidly. “You weren’t kidding when you said we’d be there in a flash.” 

Chloe turned toward the door and held her breath. 

“Fastest man alive,” Bart told Lois with a grin. “Need help sitting down?”

“No, not ready to sit down. Where’s my--” She paused as she felt someone watching her and turned toward the door, spotting her cousin. Wordlessly, she limped over to Chloe and wrapped her arms around her in a hug.

Chloe met her halfway and hugged her tightly, looking at Bart over Lois’ shoulder. “Thank you.” 

“Anytime, ‘Licious. Gotta go fuel up,” he told her with a wink before vanishing.

“So you just know _all_ the heroes, don’t you?” Lois arched her eyebrows as she pulled away to look at her cousin, studying her. She looked tired. Wore out.

She smiled at Lois but kept her hands on her to help her stand. “Why don’t we sit down so you don’t do even more damage to your ankle?”

Lois smiled sheepishly, looking down at her bright blue cast and shrugging. “Probably a good idea.”

“Ella is gonna like it,” Chloe said, helping her cousin over to the large couch in the living room. 

“She does like blue.” She smiled and flopped down on the sofa, stretching her arms out over her head.

“Want me to get you a chair to prop your foot up?” She asked, cocking her head.

“No, I’m okay for now. Tell me what’s going on.” Lois shifted so she was facing Chloe on the sofa.

“Well,” she breathed and looked down. “We’re pretty much stuck here, hiding, for the time being.”

“Well, at least it’ll be more entertaining with me here.” Lois flashed her a bright smile.

“Ella will be happy to see you,” Chloe said, smiling softly. “And, I do feel better knowing he can’t get to you.”

At that, she looked down, a troubled expression on her face. “Yeah.” 

“Clark will be fine,” Chloe promised her, reaching over for her hand. “Trust me.”

“Are you sure? Because he’s a pretty simple guy.” She looked down at their hands.

“I’m sure. We’re keeping an eye out for him too just in case. And Bart has been around Metropolis a lot,” she promised. It was all true since Clark was probably going to be an obvious target, but Lois couldn’t know that Clark could take care of himself just fine.

Lois nodded a little, relaxing as best she could. “You look tired. Have you been getting any sleep?” 

“Well, I woke up at four, when Diana called me about the explosion and then Oliver and Ella were up too, so I just didn’t go back to bed.”

She reached out and tucked some hair behind Chloe’s ear. “You look more tired than that,” she said worriedly.

Her face fell and she looked down, her stomach tight. She knew she had to tell Lois, but she couldn’t even imagine how she was going to find the words to say it.

“Chloe, what is it?” She shifted closer, worry deepening.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” she whispered, rubbing her hands over her face. “You might hate me for it,” she said sincerely, looking over at her cousin. 

Lois gave her a look. “There’s _nothing_ you can say or do that will make me hate you, Chloe.” 

“Not even if I have been lying to you for years?” She asked, holding her breath as she watched Lois closely.

“That sorta depends on what you’ve been lying about, and your motive for lying.” She arched an eyebrow.

“About...” she took a deep breath and sat up. “About who Ella’s father is.”

Lois studied her for a moment. “Chloe, I know Jimmy isn’t her father,” she said quietly.

“You do?” She asked, her stomach tightening. She didn’t know if this was better or worse, considering Lois also probably assumed the same as everyone else. “You think it’s Davis?”

“No,” she said, making a face. “I just assumed you decided to live a little and had a fling after the whole...” Lois hesitated. “Divorce.” 

“Oh.” She paused, holding her breath. “That’s... pretty accurate,” she whispered, looking around to make sure Oliver wasn’t listening.

“So, see? I’m not even mad,” she said, smiling at Chloe.

“Not yet,” she said quietly, wincing a little. 

Lois cocked her head at that, staring at her with narrowed eyes. “What are you trying to say?” 

“That you know him,” she told her carefully.

She pursed her lips. “How well do I know him?’ she asked, suddenly sounding nervous.

“Pretty well.” She sat up, watching Lois closely. She guessed she had already figured out it was Oliver, by the look on her face.

“Well, this is really awkward.” Lois looked away, rubbing a hand over her face. “Does he know?” 

“He does now,” she said carefully. “I-- didn’t really want him to know before. I didn’t know how he was going to react considering we weren’t even talking.”

“I can’t _believe_ he didn’t say anything,” Lois said, her jaw tensing. “After everything.” 

“Well, we figured it might be better to tell you in person, Lo.” She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t want you to blame him.”

She made a sound of disbelief. “How can I _not_ blame him? He took advantage of you, and your feelings for him at one of your worst moments, and then he didn’t even have the _nerve_ to tell me about it!” 

Chloe blinked at that and shook her head. “My feelings for him? I’ve never had --” her eyes widened and she stared at Lois. “Oh, God, Lois, I didn’t mean _Clark_!” She gasped, shaking her head. “I would never, no.” She could barely articulate at how disturbing and wrong the idea of _that_ with Clark sounded and had sounded since she was in college. 

Lois whipped her head over to look back at her cousin once more, wide-eyed. “Then who the hell are you talking about?” she asked, sincerely confused.

“Oliver,” she told her, holding her breath as she stared at Lois, still slightly horrified that she’d think of Clark.

She blinked a couple of times and her eyebrows furrowed. “You and Ollie? Really?” 

“No. I mean, yes, but just... it was a one time thing.” And she wasn’t going to let Oliver try to tell her otherwise.

“Huh.” Lois leaned back against the back of the sofa, still looking startled.

“Huh?” Chloe echoed, frowning as she watched Lois. She guessed that Oliver was better than finding out her boyfriend had a kid with your cousin, but still.

“No, I just...I never considered that the two of you...but it makes sense.” 

“Well, yeah, I mean, Oliver had kind of been around,” she added in a whisper. “I was pretty upset after my birthday and we were both drinking. It kind of just happened.”

Lois studied her, cocking her head to the side. “Ollie wouldn’t just sleep with someone he considered a friend unless there was more to it than that.” She frowned. 

Chloe’s stomach clenched instantly at that. “What are you talking about?” 

“Ollie’s a lot of things, and he’s made a lot of mistakes, but he wouldn’t take advantage of a friend like that. He doesn’t have many friends.” 

“He wasn’t taking advantage of me. I felt crappy with the divorce and everything that was going on. He was helping me,” she told Lois, frowning. She didn’t want to have this conversation yet again today.

Lois shook her head. “No. That _is_ taking advantage. Did you guys talk about this at all? How did he take it finding out he was a dad?” 

“He was shocked, obviously. But I think all things considered, he took it pretty well.” She figured it was better to ignore everything else her cousin was trying to ask while she could.

“Good. At least I don’t have to kick his ass for _that_.” 

“I don’t think you need to kick his ass at all. It was my choice to keep him in the dark about this. And you, so you wouldn’t go after him,” Chloe explained.

Lois sighed softly, gazing at her cousin. “Why didn’t you tell him sooner, Chloe?” Her voice was soft.

With a deep breath, she shrugged a little. “He was gone, he had his own life and I didn’t want him to think he owed me anything.”

She frowned at that. “And he wasn’t upset you didn’t tell him?” 

Shaking her head, Chloe frowned a little. “No, not really. I think he still thinks I didn’t tell him because I don’t think he’s a good person.”

Lois sighed. “That sounds like Ollie.” 

Chloe sighed softly too, rubbing a hand over her face. “So you’re okay with all this?”

“Chloe, Oliver and I haven’t been a thing in years. At least I know he’s a good guy.” She shrugged.

“I know he is a good guy too. And he wants to be a part of Ella’s life and, I think that will be good for her.”

“And for him,” Lois murmured.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little. “He’s not on his own anymore, though.”

Lois paused. “Meaning?” 

“He took a girl in, someone he helped as Green Arrow,” she said sincerely. “She was in a bad situation, apparently.”

She turned her head to stare at Chloe. “When you say he took in a girl...what exactly does that mean?” 

“Not like that. He pretty much adopted her. I think she’s about seventeen? I’m not sure. Ella loves her,” she admitted, smiling a little.

Lois took that in, staring at her cousin a moment longer before shaking her head. “So he was already playing ‘dad’ when he found out about Ella.” 

“In a way, yeah. Although there’s a huge difference between taking care of a seventeen year old and a four year old,” Chloe said, then paused. “Not sure which one is harder.”

Lois arched her eyebrows. “Well, fortunately Ella’s much more well-behaved than we were at her age.” 

“She’s about as behaved as I was when I wasn’t influenced by you,” she said, smirking.

She narrowed her eyes at Chloe. “Well, just wait til I spend even more time with her,” she said sweetly.

“I can always send her over to stay with you indefinitely.” She arched her eyebrows. 

“But you never would.” Lois smirked.

“No,” she agreed, smiling a little. “I’m already dreading having to let her spend time with Oliver and not be able to be around her.”

“Is there any reason you guys can’t spend time with her together?” 

Chloe hesitated at that and shrugged a little as she looked down. “Well, no, but he might want some time alone with her.”

Lois studied her for a moment. “What else is going on here, Chloe?” she asked quietly.

She took a deep breath and shook her head. “Not much, we’re trying to figure out what to tell the others, but that can wait, I guess. Other than that, just waiting and seeing what we can do about Lex.” She had no idea if this was what Lois meant, but she didn’t want to answer the other possible question so she ran with it.

That definitely wasn’t what Lois had been asking, but she went with it. For now. “Gotta solve one problem before you can solve the others,” she agreed.

“Exactly,” Chloe agreed, relaxing a little. “Are you hungry? Or tired?”

“I could use some coffee.” 

“I’ll go get you some,” she said as she stood up. “I’m not sure where you’re staying, but you can just stay with us tonight. Ella will be happy to see you when she wakes up.”

“I’m sure this place has at least a few dozen guest rooms, but I definitely want one close to yours.” She smiled a little. 

“Definitely.” She smiled back at her. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said sincerely.

Lois met her eyes and smiled, nodding. She was glad she was there, too. And one way or the other, she was going to fix everything she possibly could before she left again.

* * * 

Bart sped through the entire house in a second, he didn’t stop until he found Oliver outside, sitting on one of the benches, his eyes wide as he stared at him.

He blinked a couple of times, straightening when he saw Bart gawking at him. “What? What’s wrong?” 

“You’re Ella’s _dad_?” He asked in a gasp.

Oliver held his breath at that, rising to his feet. “Did Chloe tell you that?” 

“I heard her telling Lois! I didn’t mean to, I was just eating, I swear, but... dude, really?”

He pursed his lips, nodding ever-so-slightly. “Really.” 

“Woah,” he muttered, sitting down where Oliver had been a moment earlier.

“Yeah,” he agreed, watching Bart for a moment and then slowly sitting down beside him.

“She said you didn’t know,” Bart said, glancing at him after being silent for a while.

“I had no idea until a few days ago,” he confirmed quietly.

“That’s crazy,” he muttered, frowning. “Why would Chloe not tell you?”

“I haven’t exactly been around,” Oliver pointed out.

“If anyone could have tracked you down, it’s Chloe, though,” he said.

“And I haven’t exactly been the kind of guy who’s dependable enough to be a dad.” He pursed his lips, looking away, out over the yard.

“I don’t know about that, but whatever happened, if I had a kid, I’d wanna know about it,” he said bluntly. “I mean, especially if we were friends, you know? I guess it’s all messed up because of Jimmy, but still.”

He winced at the mention of Jimmy. “And Davis. And Lex. There were a lot of reasons for her not to tell me that Ella’s mine.” 

“I guess, but still...” Bart shook his head. “I didn’t even know you guys were together.”

At that, Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “We weren’t exactly together.” He looked down at his hands.

Bart stared at him. “But you are now.”

A short chuckle escaped him. “No. Not even close.” 

“Oh.” Bart’s eyes widened a little but he looked away, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he stood up.

Oliver looked up at him wordlessly, watching him for a long moment, and then standing up again, too. “I know this is weird...” 

“It’s pretty messed up,” Bart admitted, frowning up at Oliver.

Sighing softly, he looked away. “I don’t really know what to do,” he confessed.

“What do you mean?” Bart asked, cocking his head.

“This sort of changes everything.” He glanced at Bart, chewing the inside of his cheek. “I mean, I have a four year old daughter. Everything has to change, and I don’t know if I know how to do that.” 

“I know even less.” He paused, then shrugged. “But you moved them here and you’re helping Chloe take care of her, I guess that’s a start?”

“Yeah. But it seems like every time the two of us have a conversation, we wind up fighting about something,” he said, sighing.

“You gotta figure out how to not fight,” Bart said firmly. “And you should never fight in front of her, trust me.”

“Well, we don’t do that,” he assured Bart. 

“You guys are the grown ups, you need to talk it out, I guess. Just find a way to understand each other.”

“I wish it was that easy,” he murmured. 

“You both want what is best for her, right?” Bart asked. 

“Yeah, of course. We’re not arguing about Ella.” 

He stared at Oliver at that, confused. “Then what?”

Oliver sighed softly, sitting down once more and staring out over the yard. “Everything else.” 

“You didn’t used to, though,” Bart told him.

“No,” he agreed quietly.

“Then figure out what changed?” He suggested, unsure of what else to say.

He nodded slightly, glancing up at Bart. “Yeah. Thanks, Bart.” 

Bart stared at Oliver for a moment then nodded. “I should head back to Metropolis.”

“To check on Clark?” 

“Yeah, and on Lex,” he told him. “I’ll be back later.”

“Be careful, Bart,” he said quietly, worry in his eyes.

“Always am.” He smiled a little at him before disappearing.


	13. Chapter 13

Oliver was laying out by the pool when he heard footsteps approaching him, and then a moment later, he felt someone standing over him. He pried one eye open and looked up, a faint smile tugging at his mouth. “You’re blocking my light, Legs.” 

“I think it’s just ‘Leg’, for now,” Lois told him as she sat down on one of the pool chairs.

He glanced over to where she sat down, studying her cast. “Yeah, I heard you got into a scrape.” 

“Comes with the job,” she said, propping her foot over another chair. 

“True.” He was quiet for a moment. “Good to see you.” 

“Lucky for you you’re seeing me so shortly after we talked,” she said, arching her eyebrows.

Oliver arched his eyebrows back at her. “Why do you think I made that happen so fast?” 

“I think Bart made it happen, credit where it’s due, Ollie.” Lois paused and arched her eyebrows. “And speaking of credit...”

He cocked his head to look at her. “What?” 

“You deserve credit for knocking my baby cousin up,” she said, watching him.

Oliver winced at that, pursing his lips and looking away. “Right.” 

“At least you two did a good job on Ella,” she added, cocking her head.

“No doubt about that one.” He nodded.

Lois was silent for a moment. “How are you doing with the whole dad thing?”

A smile tugged at his mouth. “Still adjusting to the idea, but I do like it.” 

“And what about you and my cousin?” She asked.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, laying his head back against the chair. “She couldn’t be less interested in the idea.” 

Squinting, Lois cocked her head. “But you are.” It wasn’t a question.

Oliver shut his eyes. “Doesn’t matter. She made it pretty clear.” 

Lois took a deep breath and smiled as she leaned against her chair, relaxing as she closed her eyes. “All I needed to know.”

He paused at that, opening his eyes and turning his head to look at her. “What exactly does _that_ mean?” he asked suspiciously.

“Is there anyone here to bring me an iced coffee? And a donut.” She stretched her arms over her head then rested them on the chair.

“That’s not an answer, Lois.” 

Lois turned to look at him as she opened her eyes. “I love Chloe, but she can be pretty stupid when it comes to her own life.”

He paused at that, watching her. “Are you saying you’d be okay with the idea of me and Chloe...?” 

“I still know you better than most, Ollie. So you and I didn’t work out, I still think you’re one of the good guys. Besides, you obviously make pretty babies,” she added, smirking a little. “And I know you didn’t sleep with her because you wanted an easy lay, you wouldn’t do that to someone you consider a friend.” 

Oliver held his breath at that, chewing the inside of his cheek as his chest tightened. Lois knew him way too well. He nodded ever-so-slightly, looking out at the pool. “It’s good to have you here, Lois.” 

“I know.” She smiled smugly and leaned back against the chair, closing her eyes once more.

He laughed softly and shut his eyes, too, relaxing once more.

* * * 

“I can’t find ‘Namon, mommy! I lost him in there!” Ella said as she dragged Chloe toward the pool house storage closet. 

“I told you to be careful with him, Ella.” Chloe sighed as she walked into the darkened closet, frowning when Ella’s hand slipped from hers. She turned around toward the door just to see it closing. “Ella?”

“Hey, I can’t see what I’m doing now,” Oliver complained, turning to see who had shut the door. 

“Oliver?” Chloe said, frowning as she turned toward his voice. 

“Chloe?” He frowned, confused. “What are you--” 

“You two are in there until you work things out,” Lois called, smirking as she held onto Ella’s hand. “So have fun!” 

“Time out!” Ella called and giggled. 

“Lois!” Chloe yelled, her jaw clenching.

“The sooner you start talking, the sooner you can come out and jump in the nice cool pool. Now, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She smirked and looked down at Ella. “Wanna go inside and have some ice cream?” 

“Yay!” Ella answered. 

Chloe groaned and shook her head. “I’m going to kill her.” She paused and turned toward where she assumed Oliver was, her eyes still adjusting to the darkness. “Did you know about this?”

“Yeah, I’m thrilled to be trapped inside a closet outside in 90 degree weather with no AC or water,” he said dryly.

Sighing, Chloe rubbed her hands over her face. “Good, so you can help me kill her.” That was the longest conversation they had had since their last argument, before Lois arrived.

“Murder really isn’t my thing anymore.” He blew out a breath, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.

Rolling her eyes, Chloe gave him a look even though he couldn’t see it. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know.” He was silent for a moment. “Maybe I can get the doors open.” 

“Are there any tools in here?” She asked, looking around.

“Maybe. I haven’t been in here in years.” Also it was dark and he couldn’t see hardly anything.

“I’ll help you look,” she said, stepping closer then tripping over something and losing her balance.

He reached out without thinking about it, catching her easily, arms sliding around her waist. “Easy,” he murmured.

“What is their problem?” Chloe asked, sighing as she stood up again. “Thanks.”

“Who knows what Lois is thinking,” he said absently, arms still around her.

Her eyes narrowed a little as she straightened. “Did you tell her anything?”

“Did _you_?” he responded, pulling away from her.

“About Ella,” she said. “Now answer me.”

“No,” he said, annoyed with her order. 

“Then why did she say we have things to figure out, Oliver?” Chloe demanded.

“No, I’m not going to tell you anything I said to Lois,” he corrected her.

“What the hell were you _thinking_? You had no right to tell her anything!”

He snorted. “Last time I checked, I didn’t have to get permission from anyone to talk to an old friend, Chloe.” 

“An old friend you didn’t bother contacting in four years. An old friend who is _my_ cousin and who is clearly insane!” She said angrily.

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Because she wants to see you happy and thinks more of you than you do yourself? Or because she doesn’t insist on holding all _my_ mistakes against me?” He moved away from her, running his hands along one of the shelves as he searched for tools.

“What does my happiness have to do with any of this?” She demanded, turning to watch him as he moved around. “I was perfectly fine in Gotham.”

“Oh, yeah. Minus not having contact with your friends or Lois very often, and the whole being kidnapped thing, and oh wait. Lex _blowing up your apartment_.” 

“I meant before Lex showed up and I had much more contact with Lois and the others than _you_ did.” 

“We’re not talking about me and my happiness. We’re talking about _yours_.” His hand closed around the handle of something and he carefully reached out with his other hand, trying to determine what it was.

“Maybe we _should_ if you need to run to cry on Lois’ shoulder the second she walks through the door,” she pointed out.

“Maybe part of your problem is that you can’t tell the difference between talking and crying,” he informed her, not turning around.

“So you’re perfectly happy with your life, is that it?” She asked.

“I never said that,” he said honestly. “But this conversation is about you, not me. Stop trying to divert my attention.” 

“There isn’t a conversation! There is you and there is Lois and your need to talk about me and my life behind my back,” she said sharply. 

“And maybe if you would talk about your life with one of us, we wouldn’t need to do so.” His voice was calm. He put the tool back. Just a garden hoe.

“I have nothing to talk about and Lois didn’t seem concerned about my life until whatever conversation you two had.”

“And how do you know that? Did you ask her if she was concerned about your life?” 

“She’s never locked me into a closet before,” she told him, crossing her arms over her chest. “Why don’t you just tell me what the hell this is about, Oliver?”

“I didn’t ask her to lock us in here, Chloe,” he responded, shaking his head. 

“No, but you seem to want to say something to me,” she told him, eyes narrowing. Might as well get it out of the way.

“Yeah, well, I already tried. So.” He felt around on the next shelf, cursing under his breath when he sliced his finger open on something sharp.

Her eyes widened at the noise and the curse. “What was that?” She asked, stilling.

“Nothing,” he muttered. “Just nearly sliced my finger off with a saw blade.” He wrapped his finger in the hem of his shirt. Now both of his arms were injured. Great.

She winced, her jaw clenching. “Lois, Oliver is hurt, let us out!” She yelled uselessly then stepped closer to Oliver. “Stop trying to find anything, come closer to the door so I can see it.”

“It’s fine. I’ve got pressure on it. It’s not like you’ll be able to see it in here anyway,” he pointed out.

“I can wrap something around it, there’s more light there,” she said, walking over to him and reaching for his arm carefully.

Sighing, he held his hand out to her silently, pursing his lips as she examined it. “It’s not that bad.” 

“It’s bleeding a lot,” she told him. She could feel it more than she could see. She tried to look around for a moment, see if she could find a cloth but there was no way anything in there would be clean, so she reached for her t-shirt and pulled it off.

“What are you doing?” His eyes widened a little and he stared at her in the dimly lit building.

“You need to wrap something around it.” She tried ripping her shirt but didn’t manage to so she wrapped the whole thing around his hand and as tightly as she could around his finger.

“Yeah, but now your shirt is ruined.” And she was showing a lot more skin than she had been moments ago. 

“I think I’ll be okay,” she said with a roll of her eyes. She might have hesitated if she hadn’t been wearing a bathing suit to begin with but there wasn’t a point in letting his finger get worse because she was self-conscious anyway.

“You might be,” he muttered, eyes narrowing as he stared at her.

Chloe frowned at that. “Are you feeling lightheaded or something?”

“Definitely.” His gaze raked over her and he arched his eyebrows.

She sighed and shook her head. “Well you’re in pain, losing blood and it’s stupidly hot, of course you are. You need to sit down.”

He leaned closer to her, pressing his lips near her ear. “Sitting isn’t going to help _my_ problem,” he murmured.

She stilled at that, her stomach clenching at the sudden closeness. “What are you doing?” 

Oliver arched an eyebrow, pulling away just enough to meet her eyes. “What do you think I’m doing?” 

“Why are you doing this?” She asked instead, her hand still holding the shirt in place over his injured one.

“Because I can’t help it,” he told her, voice low. He lifted his other hand to her face, wincing as it pulled on his shoulder, but he brushed his fingers against her cheek anyway.

Chloe held her breath but didn’t pull away. She had been thinking about the kiss he surprised her with in the kitchen constantly. And what Lois said about Oliver not sleeping with someone he considered a friend if it didn’t mean more to him than that. “It was never a problem before.”

He chuckled deep in his throat and shook his head. “You have no idea how wrong you are,” he murmured, brushing his thumb over her bottom lip. 

Her lips parted under his touch and she held her breath, her heart racing. After all this time, she still thought about the night they spent together, not just because it was how Ella had happened, but because it had been mind blowingly memorable on it’s own. 

“I almost didn’t come to your wedding,” he whispered. “Looking for Lex was just an excuse.” 

“Oliver,” she murmured, shaking her head a little.

“I’m not making it up,” he said, shifting closer to her. “I’m not blind or dumb like some of the other men in your life have been, Chloe.” His lips were near her ear again. “That’s _their_ loss.” 

She swallowed hard and shook her head again. “Why didn’t you say something, then? Why wait until now?”

“You were in love with Jimmy. You guys were getting married. I couldn’t ruin that for you.” He looked down. “And I was scared.” 

“Of what?” She asked, frowning. She didn’t want to talk about Jimmy but she couldn’t imagine what Oliver would have been scared of.

“Rejection,” he admitted quietly. 

Chloe held her breath at that and looked down. “I don’t know what to say,” she admitted quietly. While Oliver was incredibly intense and she cared about him, she didn’t know what to do with this. She was terrified of letting him any closer, mostly because she didn’t want to ruin anything, but they couldn’t stop arguing as it was, she didn’t know if it’d get worse than what it already was.

“Say you’ll think about it,” he murmured, their faces so close their cheeks were almost touching. “That you’ll consider giving me a chance to prove myself to you. And not just for Ella.” He held his breath.

She closed her eyes and sighed softly. “All we do is argue, Oliver. If anything happens and it doesn’t work out, it will be harder for us to be around each other when we have to be.”

A faint smile touched his mouth. “You know why we keep arguing, right?” he murmured, nuzzling her cheek lightly.

Pursing her lips together, she sighed again. She knew, when he asked like that it was pretty obvious. It looked like they were both frustrated. With a deep breath, she turned her head and brushed her lips against his tentatively.

 _Exactly_ , he thought, returning the kiss with a tenderness most people wouldn’t think he possessed. His hand still cupped her other cheek and he brushed his nose lightly over hers, slowly exploring her mouth with his own.

She made a quiet noise and turned her body toward his, finally letting go of his injured hand and lifting both her hands to his sides as she moved closer.

Oliver slid his other hand around to cup the back of her neck, barely aware of the pain in his thumb as the kiss grew deeper. He shifted closer to her, their bodies pressed close together, making him want more. 

Chloe wrapped both arms around him and pulled him to her, her palms pressing against his back and in the back of her head, she was worried about his injured thumb and shoulder but she wasn’t able to pay much attention to the warning.

His tongue brushed gently along the seam of her lips, his hand threading through her hair. After a long moment, he leaned his forehead against hers. “See what I mean?” he murmured, trying to catch his breath.

Sighing softly, she kept her eyes closed for a moment then opened them. “We should keep ourselves busy with other things so we won’t argue?” She tried.

He grinned involuntarily. “I think we could keep ourselves _very_ busy.” 

Chloe sighed softly at that and shook her head. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “We have Ella, Oliver and it would confuse her.”

“Then we keep it just between us for now. See how things go. If it doesn’t work out, she never knows one way or the other.” 

She placed a hand over his chest and nodded slightly. “And we take it slow. I don’t want us to hate each other either.”

Oliver reached up, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Okay. But for the record, I don’t think it’s even possible for me to hate you,” he murmured.

“I’d rather not take any chances,” she whispered, leaning into his hand a little.

“Fair enough,” he agreed, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Chloe closed her eyes for a moment then took a deep breath. “How is your hand?”

“I think the bleeding stopped,” he told her. 

She reached for his hand and unwrapped it carefully. “I still plan on killing her.”

He smiled a little at that. Somehow, he seriously doubted it.


	14. Chapter 14

Chloe smiled softly when Ella’s head slipped down the pillow but kept reading to her quietly. From experience, she knew she had to keep going to at least five more minutes or Ella would wake back up.

Oliver sat on the other side of the bed, watching Ella as she fell asleep. His chest was tight, but the smile on his face was genuine. 

She glanced over at him a moment later as she closed the book. “You always keep reading for a while after she’s asleep,” she told him, keeping her voice in the same tone as she had when she was reading.

“Because she’ll wake up otherwise,” he guessed, amused.

“And complain about me not finishing the story,” she said, smiling as she leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“I used to do the same thing,” Oliver admitted, looking over at her, and then down at Ella once more. 

“At least I know who to blame,” Chloe said, arching her eyebrows.

He grinned, shrugging and pulling the covers up around their daughter a little more before rising to his feet. “Touche.” 

“I started reading my own bedtime stories when I was four,” she whispered, getting up carefully and setting the book on the bedside table.

Oliver paused at that, watching her and then holding his hand out for her. “Did they stop reading to you then, or did you prefer to read on your own?” 

“I’m not sure,” she admitted, sliding her hand in his. “I guess a mix of both.”

“I used to love being read to,” he told her, squeezing her fingers lightly as they exited the room.

“Did anyone read to you after your parents?” She asked, squeezing his hand back.

“Once in awhile Margaret did,” he answered with a faint smile. “She was my nanny.” 

“I’m glad you had someone to,” she said sincerely as she turned to face him.

“You would have liked her,” Oliver said quietly, meeting her eyes.

“Is she not around anymore?” Chloe asked quietly, holding his gaze.

“She died when I was fifteen,” he told her with a slight shrug.

“I’m sorry, it’d be nice to have someone you trusted in case we ever needed someone to watch Ella,” she admitted. 

“Well, we have Mia,” he said quietly.

“And Lois, but they both have lives.” She shrugged a little. “We will find someone when we need to.”

Oliver nodded in agreement. “We will.” He looked down at their hands for a moment, then up at her again. “Do you wanna...maybe watch a movie?” he asked softly.

Chloe paused and arched her eyebrows. “You mean not one of the three cartoons I’ve watched on repeat for the last few years? I don’t know if I could handle that.”

He chuckled softly. “Well, we can watch one of those if you really _want_ to.” 

“I don’t think Ella would ever forgive us.” She grinned softly, holding his gaze.

“Can’t have that.” He smiled, too. “But I have a library of movies, or we can get something from Netflix. You can pick whatever.” He lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles.

She brushed her fingers over his hand and nodded, her chest warm as she watched him. “Sounds good.”

“Cool. Do you want some popcorn? I can go pop some while you choose a movie.” 

“Yeah, might as well go all out.” And that way they’d have something to be distracted by, somehow she didn’t think the movie would be enough. “Where are we watching this?”

“The theater room?” He smiled, wondering if she’d even seen it yet.

“You have a theater room? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but...” She arched her eyebrows, watching him.

“Yeah, my parents were big movie buffs.”

“Well, show me,” she told him then paused. “Although, if it’s not on this floor, maybe we should reconsider. In case Ella wakes up, I want to make sure we’re around.”

He smiled. “It’s at the end of the hall. Last door on the right.” 

“I’ll meet you there,” she said, arching her eyebrows and smiling.

He leaned in, kissing her cheek lightly. “See you in a few,” he agreed, turning and heading toward the stairs.

Chloe watched him go, smiling then taking a deep breath. She checked on Ella once more before heading toward the theater room. She was glad he wasn’t there when she made her way in, because she literally gasped. It was like a small movie theater, there was a whole wall of movies on one side and huge, incredibly comfortable looking couches all over the room, facing the big screen. With a deep breath, she started to go through the movies, it was going to take her a while to be able to pick one.

* * * 

“You know, we really don’t have to watch this if there was something you’d rather see,” Oliver told her as the opening credits of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves began to roll. 

“There’s a lot I could watch,” she admitted then shrugged. “But this seemed like the obvious choice.”

He grinned, holding out the popcorn bowl toward her.

She picked up some of the popcorn and smiled at him. “Is there anything else you’d rather watch?”

“No, not really,” he admitted, taking a handful of popcorn from the bowl, as well.

Chloe shifted a little closer to him so she could reach more easily and nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

“But I have to be honest with you, this is always going to be my personal favorite movie choice,” he said, offering her a lop-sided grin.

“So you will watch this over and over again?” Chloe asked, frowning a little.

“This would be the one hundred and fifteenth time I’ve watched it,” he informed her.

“You mean approximately, right?” She asked, squinting.

Oliver arched his eyebrows. “We can go with that.” 

“You actually counted? Now _that_ is crazy,” she told him, eating some popcorn.

He smirked faintly, shrugging. “It’s gonna be a record.” 

“And what is the current record?” She asked, cocking her head.

“No idea, but whatever it is, I’m going to beat it.” 

“Well, you better watch out for your daughter, she might beat you,” she told him, smiling softly. It didn’t feel wrong, openly talking about his daughter to him. Their daughter.

“She can try.” He grinned and tossed a piece of popcorn into his mouth.

“You wouldn’t let your own daughter beat you?” Chloe gasped.

Oliver chuckled. “It can be a friendly competition.” 

“Sure it can.” She smirked. “You realize who we’re talking about, right?”

“Me and my daughter.” He smirked back at her.

“You really should know better than to believe in friendly competition.” She cocked her head. “You seem pretty comfortable with saying ‘my daughter’,” she commented, smiling.

Oliver smiled softly, nodding and munching on another piece of popcorn, looking thoughtful. “I never really thought I’d have a family again,” he confessed.

“Well, you do have Mia,” she pointed out, cocking her head.

He nodded slightly. “I know.” 

Chloe watched him for a moment then leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek.   
“You’ll have a bigger family now.”

He slid his arm around her shoulders, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Yeah. Can never have too much family.” 

“Agreed,” she whispered. “Especially when we didn’t have a big one growing up.”

Oliver rested his head against hers, rubbing her arm gently. “So we’ll just create one of our own.” 

“Well, it kind of has been created already.” She smiled, leaning her head against his shoulder.

“Well, I meant, keep adding to it.” He smiled, too.

Chloe paused and cocked her head at that. “Are you saying you plan on adopting other kids?”

“Or team members. Or both.” 

“Ah,” she said, arching her eyebrows and nodding. “I agree, in that case.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not saying we should start making another baby, although the first one has turned out pretty amazing.” He glanced at her sideways.

“She did,” Chloe agreed, nodding. “But I don’t know if I will ever want to try that again. I just want you to know that.”

He paused, frowning a little. “Was everything okay? With the pregnancy?” His eyes were filled with worry.

She smiled a little at the look on his face and nodded. “Yeah, I mean, we were both healthy and fine but... it was a lot. Hormones were driving me crazy and not being able to do things by myself toward the end was pretty frustrating and I wouldn’t say it was a terrible experience but I hated feeling helpless and well, then there is the pain part.” She made a face. 

Oliver nodded, lifting his hand to her cheek. “Well, it would be pretty far down the line before we’d need to talk about it, anyway.” 

“Yeah,” she breathed, nodding slightly as she watched him. “Guess we have a lot to figure out before that.”

“We will,” he said softly, gazing at her. 

Chloe held her breath and his gaze, nodding again before leaning in and pressing her lips softly to his.

Oliver kissed her back just as lightly, thumb stroking her cheek.

She wrapped an arm around him after setting the popcorn bowl on the couch and shifted a little closer. It had only been a day since they had been locked into the pool house, but she already felt so much calmer.

“This is nice,” he said quietly a moment later, leaning his head against hers.

“Yeah,” she whispered, smiling as she brushed her nose against his. “I guess this is when I tell you you had a point?”

Oliver grinned a little. “Well, only if you want to...” 

“Just because you had a point it doesn’t mean I can’t still blame you, you know?” She pointed out, cocking her head.

“Blame me for what?” He arched his eyebrows.

“Creating all this sexual tension,” she said, arching an eyebrow.

He smirked. “I didn’t create it all by myself, you know?” 

“At least eighty percent came from you.” She kept her face as straight as she possibly could.

Oliver snorted at that. “Half, maybe.” 

“Eighty,” she repeated, nodding then pressed her lips to his again.

He nipped playfully at her lower lip, brushing his nose over hers. “Nope. You and those bikini tops...” 

Chloe gasped at that. “Me? You walked around completely shirtless.”

“Once,” he protested. “At the _pool_.” 

“Oh so now you’re blaming me for taking off my shirt to _help_ you?” She asked, shaking her head. “Besides, I was heading to the pool!”

“I think...” He shifted, turning his body so he was facing her. “You were trying to _seduce_ me.” 

She laughed at that and shook her head. “I wouldn’t take off my clothes if I was trying to seduce you, Oliver.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “No?” 

“No,” she said, smirking a little then kissing him softly.

“So how _would_ you try to seduce me?” he asked, intrigued as he kissed her back.

“I guess I could always get drunk and fall on you, worked well last time, right?” She asked, cocking her head. 

“That’s not really how I remember it,” he informed her.

“How do you remember it?” She asked, lifting a hand to his hair and brushing her fingers through it.

Oliver leaned in closer to her, grinning as he remembered.

_It was much less crowded as he arrived back at the Ace of Clubs that night. He glanced around, frowning and wondering if she’d already left. He could tell she hadn’t exactly been having a great time, and he felt bad he’d had to leave at all. Especially considering Clark hadn’t bothered to show up._

_Jackass._

_He pursed his lips, and then paused when he caught sight of her at the bar. He moved over to her, arching his eyebrows. “Hey.”_

_Chloe sat up at the voice and arched her eyebrows, smiling a little when she saw him. “If you’re here, I guess that must mean the world is safe.”_

_He couldn’t help but smile at that. “Seems to be.” He leaned on the bar, nodding at the bartender. “Whatever she’s having.”_

_She grinned at that and shook her head. “Are you sure?”_

_He cocked his head. “Now I’m curious. What are you having?”_

_“Old fashioned,” she told him, sliding the glass over to him. “According to Lois, if I’m going to have girly drinks, they better have whiskey in them.”_

_“I do like whiskey.” He couldn’t help but smile, picking up her glass and taking a drink._

_“How do you drink it?” She asked, leaning her elbow on the counter and resting head on her hand._

_“Any way I can get it,” he said lightly, sliding it back over to her._

_Chloe held her breath at that and nodded. “What do you think?”_

_“Not bad,” he assured her with a soft smile._

_She lifted her head and took another sip of her drink before looking at him again. “Why did you come back?”_

_“It’s your birthday,” Oliver said simply._

_Chloe rolled her eyes and smiled. “Birthdays quit being important after you turn ten.”_

_“Says you.” He grinned. “I disagree.”_

_“Why? What’s to celebrate?” She shrugged a little and shook her head. “Here’s to another year filled with disappointments?”_

_“Whoa, hey now. Maybe it’ll be a better year,” he said, frowning as he shifted closer to her._

_Sighing, she looked down at her glass. “Only good thing about this year is that it will be hard for it to get any worse.”_

_His expression softened at her words and he reached out, resting a hand on her back, between her shoulder blades. “Come on. Let’s have a couple drinks, and then we can get out of here.”_

_She arched her eyebrows at that and looked at him for a moment, then nodded. “Probably a good idea. I think everyone’s left.”_

_“Except us.” He rubbed her back without thinking about it._

_Chloe smiled a little and nodded again, keeping her eyes on him._

_Oliver pursed his lips for a moment, then leaned in closer. “I have a couple things for you. Back at the clocktower.”_

_She paused and squinted at that. “You do?”_

_He smiled, nodding. “It’s not a big deal, really.”_

_“Now I’m curious,” she said. “Maybe we should just drink there.”_

_“We can if you want,” he agreed, nodding._

_“I think I’m done here,” she told him, picking up her drink and finishing it._

_He smiled a little as he watched her, then offered her his arm. “All right, birthday girl. Should we go, then?”_

_“Should I call you my hero?” She teased, taking his arm before getting down from her seat, nearly losing her balance as she did._

_He chuckled, sliding his arm around her waist quickly to keep her from tripping any more. “Maybe you’ve had too much already,” he teased back._

_“It’s my birthday,” she reminded him, shrugging a little. “I get to.”_

_“Point.” Nodding, he guided her toward the exit, helping her slip her coat on._

_She smiled up at him and nodded. “You’re a good friend, Ollie.”_

_Oliver smiled back at her, even if he didn’t particularly agree with her statement. “I try,” he said quietly, deciding he was going to do a better job of being a friend to her in the next year._

_* * *_

_A few moments later, Oliver was walking her into the Clocktower. While she knew she was pretty drunk, she was proud of herself for being able to walk. She felt relaxed, more than she had in a long time and that made her feel pretty good. “Surprises, where are they?” She asked as she stepped out of the elevator with him._

_He chuckled at her eagerness. “Easy, Sidekick. Take a seat and I’ll go get them,” he told her, amused._

_Chloe took a deep breath as she followed his suggestion and sat down but kept her eyes in the direction he had disappeared to._

_He returned a couple moments later, carrying a neatly wrapped package with a bow, and held it out to her. “Present first,” he announced, sitting down beside her._

_She paused and cocked her head as she took the package. “You got me a present?” She asked, her face softening._

_“Well...yeah.” He arched his eyebrows, then smiled at her. “I hope you like it.”_

_“You didn’t have to,” she said sincerely as she reached for the bow._

_“I wanted to,” he said honestly, watching her._

_She ripped the paper and opened the box, her eyes widening as she pulled a green leather jacket from inside of it. “Woah.”_

_He held his breath, chewing the inside of his cheek as he waited to see if she liked the jacket. Granted, he was a little biased when it came to the color of the jacket, but when he’d seen it, he hadn’t been able to pass it up. It just looked like something that she would like._

_“It’s gorgeous,” she said, looking over at him. “And very green,” she added, smirking._

_He grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, I know. But when I saw it, I thought of you immediately and...” He shrugged._

_“Thank you,” she said sincerely, moving to stand up._

_Oliver watched her intently. “Gonna try it on?”_

_“Have to,” she told him, sliding her arms into the jacket then carefully zipping it. “What do you think?”_

_He held his breath, staring at her. “Like it was made just for you.”_

_Chloe grinned down at him then stepped closer to him, she was just about to lean down and hug him when she tripped on his foot and lost her balance, half falling on his lap._

_He wrapped his arms around her without thinking about it. “Easy,” he murmured, eyes wide as he gazed at her._

_“Sorry,” she whispered, then smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, half sitting down sideways on his lap. “Thank you.”_

_“You’re very welcome,” he murmured, holding his breath as she shifted closer to him._

_She hugged him to her for a moment then pulled away and smiled but didn’t move away._

_He held her gaze, swallowing hard as he managed a faint smile in return. “I should go get the rest of your surprise.”_

_Chloe kept her eyes on him for a moment then leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek. He was the one who had brought her there, after all. She wanted to see where it could go. “I don’t think you can top this jacket,” she said, sliding from his lap onto the couch._

_He drew in a deep breath, rising to his feet, and hoping she hadn’t noticed the bulge in his pants. “Never know,” he said lightly, grinning at her and holding his hand out. “Come on.”_

_She pulled her jacket off carefully then arched her eyebrows at him. “I get to come this time?” She asked as she took his hand and stood up._

_“Well, I didn’t figure you’d be all that interested in my bedroom...”_

_“I wouldn’t be so sure,” she said, cocking her head a little and squinting at him._

_At that, he paused, then turned his head to look at her, eyes wider than before. “No?”_

_“You do know I like exploring, don’t you?” She asked, smirking._

_“Yeah, but it never occurred to me you’d want to _explore_ my _bedroom_.” He studied her, trying to decide if she was serious or if she was messing with him. Or maybe she’d had even more to drink than he’d realized._

_“I was promised a surprise,” she reminded him, holding his gaze. “Well, another.”_

_He drew in a breath, leading her into the kitchen where the birthday cake he’d baked himself was sitting. He rarely had time to cook or bake, and while he enjoyed it, he rarely actually did it. But this was a special occasion. And he’d been feeling pretty guilty over how badly he’d treated her the past few weeks. “Happy birthday.”_

_Her eyes widened when she saw the chocolate cake and her face softened as she turned to look at him. “You got me a cake?”_

_“I...made it, actually,” he admitted with a small smile._

_“You did?” She asked, surprised. “I didn’t realize you were so into birthdays.”_

_“I’m not, usually.” He took a deep breath. “I’m really sorry about...everything lately.” He dropped his gaze to the floor. “I haven’t exactly been a good friend.”_

_Her face fell a little at that and she shook her head. “I haven’t really been a good friend either.”_

_“Yeah, you have. You haven’t done anything wrong, Chloe,” he said sincerely, reaching out and touching her cheek._

_She leaned into his touch and shook her head a little. “I guess we were both kinda assholes with each other.”_

_He couldn’t help but smile, then leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Yeah.”_

_“But there aren’t many people who would understand it like we do,” she whispered, lifting a hand to his stomach._

_“That’s true,” he murmured, his stomach muscles tightening at her touch._

_“So maybe we should just... forget about it,” she said, looking down at her hand then up at him._

_“Yeah?” he asked hopefully, meeting her eyes._

_“You did make me chocolate cake,” she teased, smiling as she held his gaze._

_He laughed softly. “I did. I should cut you a piece of it.”_

_“Yeah.” She shifted closer to him. “You’re having some too, right?”_

_Oliver’s eyes darkened a little when she moved closer, and he nodded silently, gazing intently at her. “Yeah.”_

_“Good,” she whispered, hand still over his stomach but she let it drop slightly._

_He sucked in a breath, reaching out and circling her wrist with his hand. “What are you doing?” he murmured._

_She looked up at him and arched her eyebrows. “Pretty sure you know,” she murmured, holding his gaze._

_“You’re drunk,” he said quietly._

_“I’m fine,” she said just as quietly._

_“You’ve never expressed an interest in me before.” Still, he reached up, tucking some hair behind her ear._

_“Would it be so bad to just... have some fun?” She asked, holding his gaze._

_His gaze dropped to her mouth. “No,” he admitted, leaning in and kissing her softly on the mouth._

_Chloe relaxed and kissed him back, sliding her hand into his hair and shifting closer as she deepened the kiss almost instantly. He reached out, lifting her into his arms wordlessly even as they kissed, and he set her atop the counter so they were at the same height._

_She smiled against his lips and shifted to the edge of the counter as she kissed him for a moment longer, before pulling away to breathe._

_“Are you sure about this?” he asked softly, hand resting against her thigh._

_“Yeah,” she whispered, holding his gaze. “You?”_

_His hand slid a little higher, stroking her bare skin gently as he leaned in, kissing her once more. “Definitely.”_

_Chloe held her breath then kissed him once again, shifting even closer and wrapping her legs around him._

_“This dress looks really good on you,” he murmured against her mouth, sliding a hand up and into her hair._

_She smiled and shook her head a little. “I’d say the same but you look good in anything,” she muttered, reaching for his tie and undoing it._

_He looked up at her, smiling a bit. “So do you,” he said honestly, reaching up and cupping her cheek in his hand. He leaned in, pressing a kiss against the side of her neck._

_Chloe shivered, closing her eyes and pulling the tie from him before opening her eyes again and starting to undo his shirt._

_“Slow down there, Sidekick,” he murmured, nibbling his way across her skin. “We’ve got all night.”_

_“Just getting comfortable,” she told him, grinning and undoing his buttons._

_“In that case...” He reached behind her and slowly slid the zipper on her dress down, pulling away to watch her._

_Chloe held her breath as she pulled the dress from over her head, then looked up at him again._

_His gaze swept over her and he sucked in a breath. “You are gorgeous,” he murmured, reaching out and resting his hands lightly at her waist._

_She smiled a little at him then leaned in and kissed him deeply. Better if they didn’t talk much or she might end up believing him._

“So, see, it wasn’t because you were drunk and fell on me,” Oliver told her, eyes darker than usual as he gazed at her, smile tugging at his lips.

“Well, partially,” she said, smiling at him and shaking her head. “I guess we remember it slightly differently.”

“How do _you_ remember it?” he asked curiously, fingers stroking lightly along the back of her neck.

She shivered slightly. “Pretty much the same, just... I didn’t see it as anything else.”

He pursed his lips, nodding a little at that.

“I wish I had,” she admitted, reaching up and cupping his cheek in her hand.

“Me too,” he said softly, leaning into her touch. “But that’s what we’re trying now, right?” He turned his head and kissed the palm of her hand.

Chloe took a deep breath at that and nodded, brushing her thumb against his cheek. “Yeah.”

He nodded, too, shifting closer to her, and tightening his arm around her shoulders a little. “Good,” he murmured.

She looked up at him for a moment, shifting closer too and pressing her lips to his as she wrapped her arm around his front.

Oliver kissed her back without hesitation, sliding his hand down to rest at the small of her back. “You smell really good,” he murmured, dropping his mouth to her neck and placing light kisses there.

Shivering, she shifted a little more toward him and smiled but kept her eyes closed. “Must be the water in California.”

He grinned against her skin, but shook his head. “No, I think it’s just you.” He nipped lightly at her jaw.

“Watch it with those teeth, Dracula. Or you will have to explain to Ella where the marks came from,” she teased, mostly bringing up their daughter so they wouldn’t get too into anything.

He made a face and lifted his head to look at her. “Dracula? Really?” 

Chloe cocked her head and smirked at him. “He’s the king of vampires, kind of, what else could I call you?”

“I’m way cooler than Dracula,” he informed her with a smirk. “Besides, I wasn’t going for _blood_.” He kissed the corner of her mouth.

“And what were you going for?” She asked, turning her head toward him.

“Pure ecstasy,” he said lightly.

“I don’t know how much luck you’ll have there,” she said, watching him closely.

He arched his eyebrow at that.

“What?” She asked, squinting.

“Nothing,” he said innocently. He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Come on, let’s watch the movie.” 

She watched him for a moment longer then took a deep breath and turned her attention back to the tv as she leaned against his side. “Probably a better idea.”

“I’m not sure _better_ is the word I’d choose. Safer, though.” 

“Safer,” she agreed, smiling a little to herself. It was good to know she was having an effect on him, too.


	15. Chapter 15

“What we need is a way to stop Lex.” Oliver looked around the room at all of them, his lips pursed. “Because until we do that, none of us is safe.” 

“How, though?” Bart asked. “We can’t even tell if he’s doing anything.”

“That’s what we’re here to figure out,” Chloe said, standing next to Oliver and looking at the rest of the team.

“First, we need to find out where he is right now. What his base of operations is. We know he’s not in Gotham anymore,” he said, glancing sideways at Chloe and then at the rest of them once more. 

“What if we erase his memories again?” AC suggested. 

“That would buy us time, but eventually he’d get back to us. We can’t erase all publications and public records that connect him to us.” Chloe told him, then glanced at Oliver. “Last we saw him, he was in Metropolis, but that was two weeks ago.”

He nodded slightly, moving behind her, hand skimming lightly over the small of her back as he turned to bring up a digital map of the most recent Lex sightings. “There’s no real pattern to his movements.” 

She held her breath and glanced over at him, turning around completely and blinking a couple of times, completely losing focus for a second. It was getting harder and harder to control herself around him. 

“At least he hasn’t been to California,” Victor said.

“That we know of,” Oliver said, drawing in a breath and letting it out slowly. “Either way, we’re about as safe as we can be here.” 

“Not sure there’s such a thing as too safe in this case,” Dinah commented, leaning back in her chair.

“There never really seems to be, but we need to do whatever we can.” Chloe glanced at Oliver again. “The map doesn’t tell us much, so I think we need to try and bug everything we can: his offices, the mansion, his jet. It’s risky, especially since he could track us down if he finds the bugs, but I think not knowing where he is is even riskier.”

“Agreed,” Oliver said, nodding at her and then glancing at Bart. “You up for it, Impulse?” 

“Always,” Bart said, grinning a little. 

“Are you thinking just audio or video too?” Victor asked, standing up.

“If we’re going to risk it, we may as well go with both. Can’t have too much information,” Oliver told him. He was all too aware of how close Chloe was standing to him.

“Actually, I think we should also throw a GPS in there,” Chloe said, looking up at Oliver. “At least to the one on the jet, if we can get one on his cellphone or briefcase, that’d come in handy too.”

“Good idea,” he agreed, meeting her eyes and nodding.

She held her breath and smiled a little at him. 

“I’ll get started on those,” Victor said, frowning a little at the two of them.

“Thanks, Vic,” he said, not noticing his frown. Mostly because he didn’t look at him. His gaze was focused intently on Chloe. 

“Might need a ride to Metropolis for materials,” he added. 

Bart frowned too but nodded. “Yeah, I’ll take you.” 

Chloe took a deep breath and forced herself to look away from Oliver, shifting on her feet when she noticed everyone was staring at them. “I can help with the assembling if you need it.”

“And obviously I’ll cover the expense,” Oliver added, trying to ignore the way they were all staring. “And then we can reconvene when we have everything we need.” 

“Tracking him isn’t solving anything,” Dinah said with a frown. “What do we do when we have him?” She stared at Oliver, glancing at Chloe for a second then focusing on him again. “Are you in a hurry to end this meeting?”

He frowned at that, shaking his head. “No.” He had to force himself _not_ to look at Chloe again. “But tracking him is where we need to start. But we should start discussing what happens when we have him.” 

“I have a few ideas,” Lois muttered, folding her arms across her chest.

Dinah stared at Oliver just for a moment longer and then glared at Lois. “I’m sure they are incredibly helpful.” 

Chloe’s eyes narrowed at Dinah. “She has been dealing with Lex longer than you have,” she said sharply. She didn’t mind if the woman tried to dig at her, but she wouldn’t put up with her talking to both Oliver and Lois like this. “A lot of what we decide to do will depend on what Lex is doing, if we can’t get enough evidence of anything illegal, something like Arkham won’t be an option and that will complicate things.”

Oliver could practically feel the tension radiating off her and he shifted closer to her without really thinking about it. “The point is, we all need to work together,” he said, glancing at Dinah once more. 

Dinah crossed her arms over her chest but remained quiet. 

“That’s why we are here, after all,” Chloe added, looking over at Oliver but forcing herself to look away quickly. “I don’t think we will be making a lot of progress tonight but we’re open to suggestions if anyone has them.” 

Oliver glanced around once more, but when no one said anything, he nodded a little. “So we’ll reconvene once we have more information. And again, thank you all for everything you’ve been doing.” 

AC smiled a little, nodding. “No problem.” He rose to his feet.

“C’mon, man. I want some food when we get to Metropolis,” Bart told Victor. 

As some of them left the room, Chloe took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair. “That’s a start.”

Oliver turned to look at her, arching his eyebrows. “We’ll get this figured out.” 

“I’m not the one lacking faith in us,” she told him, arching her eyebrows back at him. 

“Seriously, what is her problem?” Lois asked as she approached them.

He’d been about to reach out and rest a hand on Chloe’s arm when he heard Lois’s question. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “She’s pissed at me, mostly.”

“Why?” Chloe asked, frowning a little. As far as she knew, Dinah hadn’t spoken with Oliver anymore than they had in the past few years. Of course, she hadn’t been working with the team as frequently as before, either.

“For going radio silent all these years,” he said quietly. “And I can’t blame her for that.” 

“If anyone had reason to be pissed at you, it was Chloe,” Lois told him, rolling her eyes. 

He sighed softly, looking down. “I’ll talk to her,” he told them, glancing at Chloe before heading for the door.

“You don’t have to,” Chloe told him, giving Lois a look then looking toward Oliver.

“Yeah, I do.” He forced a smile, meeting her eyes for a second, and winking at her before heading out of the room.

Dinah was talking to AC just outside when Oliver came out. She stopped talking instantly and arched her eyebrows at him. 

“Hey,” he said quietly. “Can we talk?” 

She considered him for a moment then nodded. “We’ll talk later,” she told AC before turning to face Oliver.

AC glanced between them, pursing his lips. “All right. You know where to find me,” he told her, turning and heading away. 

Oliver managed a faint smile. “Come on. Let’s go to the study.” 

She remained quiet but followed him silently until they were inside. “What is this about?”

“We haven’t really talked much since you started staying here,” he said, closing the door and motioning to the furniture. He moved over and sat down on the couch. “I just thought maybe we should talk so we’re on the same page.” 

“I don’t plan on staying long, but go ahead,” she said, but didn’t sit down.

He pressed his lips together, studying her for a moment. “I realize that I screwed up.” 

“Good,” she said simply. 

“But I’d like to think it’s something we can get past and work together again.” 

“That depends,” she told him. “Are you and Chloe planning on telling the rest of us the truth?”

He cocked his head to the side. “The truth?” 

“I’ve heard about Ella. We all have.”

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “I didn’t realize anyone besides Bart and Lois knew,” he admitted, leaning back against the sofa.

Dinah crossed her arms over her chest and nodded, but remained quiet.

“It’s true. I’m Ella’s father,” he said quietly. “Still kinda getting used to the idea. And Ella doesn’t know yet.” 

“So it is also true that she never bothered telling you?” 

Oliver gazed at her. “Considering I took off without a word to her or anyone else, I can’t say that I blame her for that. I wasn’t exactly good father material.” 

“Don’t be an idiot, Oliver. You had the right to know,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

His jaw tightened ever-so-slightly. “I may have had a right to know, but that really has very little to do with anything when it comes to the team, Dinah. It’s a separate issue.” 

“Is it? Because I think it comes down to us not being able to _trust_ her.”

“Is this really about Ella and me, or is this about Davis Bloome?” he questioned, rising to his feet.

“Is there really a difference? It comes down to Chloe lying, to you and to all of us for all this time. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was working _with_ Lex somehow.”

Oliver gaped at her. “People make mistakes. You of all people should know that. If I remember correctly, you tried to kill both of us while working _for_ Lex,” he pointed out. 

“It was a job. I never gave you reason not to trust me since. And I never tried to hide the fact that I worked for him. She seems to have the habit of lying and hiding important information from the rest of us.”

“And my being Ella’s father has nothing to do with the rest of you. It’s something Chloe and I have discussed and worked through.” 

“Great, so when she backstabs the team again, we can just hold you responsible and hope no one gets killed this time?” Dinah asked, arching an eyebrow.

“She didn’t backstab the team to begin with, Dinah. She was trying to do what she thought was right. She made a bad choice. It happens to all of us.” He gazed at her intently.

“Did she say that about sleeping with you, too?” She asked.

Oliver stared at her, then shook his head, moving past her and heading for the door. 

* * *

She hadn’t seen Oliver since the meeting and while the mansion was huge, she had been walking around it, both to entertain Ella and to look for him. It wasn’t until Ella decided she wanted to go to the pool and Lois and Mia both offered to go with her that she had a chance to really look. 

It wasn’t until she was walking past the gym that she heard noise inside and found him working out. Hard. That wasn’t good. “Ollie?”

He was lifting weights, and he was up to 180 pounds when he heard her voice. He drew in a breath and lifted it a few more times. “Hey.” 

She winced as she stared at the weight and approached him carefully. “Haven’t seen you around since earlier.”

After a few more lifts, he settled the weight in the holders above his head, but didn’t get up. “Yeah. Needed some exercise.” 

“Everything okay?” She asked, frowning.

“I’m not sure that Dinah’s going to be working with us much longer,” he admitted, not looking at her.

“I figured your talk hadn’t gone well,” she admitted, frowning as she kept her eyes on him, uncomfortable with the fact that he wouldn’t look at her. “What happened?”

“She’s just not very happy about things,” he said, slowly sitting up and sighing. “But that’s her issue. I’m not going to beg her to stay and I’m not going to try and hold her hostage.” 

“What exactly is she not happy about?” She pushed, moving to sit down on the now unoccupied portion of the bench.

Oliver looked down for a moment, then up at her once again. “A lot of things, Chloe,” he said quietly. “I don’t think it’s something we can change her mind about. Might be best to just let it go.” 

“What are you not telling me?” She asked, eyes narrowing slightly. “Is it about me?”

He blew out a breath, rubbing the back of his neck. “She doesn’t trust you.” 

Chloe took a deep breath at that. “I guess I’m not surprised, considering her comments about Davis and the fact that she barely worked with us in the past few years.”

“It’s her problem. Not yours. And not mine.” He gazed at her.

She held his gaze for a moment then nodded a little. “Maybe I should talk to her.”

“That’s up to you,” he said quietly. “I’m not asking you to, or expecting you to.” 

“I know you weren’t,” she said, pausing. “Do you think it’d help?”

“I don’t think she’s going to be very nice if you approach her.” He pursed his lips. “And I’d hate to have you deal with that.” 

Chloe looked at him for a moment then nodded. “I’m sure I can handle her, but... I’ll think about it.”

He nodded, too. “I’m sure you can, too.” He just didn’t like the idea of Dinah laying into her. Or anyone else for that matter. He was quiet for a few moments, watching her. “Where’s Ella?” 

“At the pool, again. With Lois and Mia,” she told him, smiling a little.

“Starting to think she’s AC’s,” he joked. “She’s like a fish.” 

Chloe cocked her head and smirked. “I should probably be offended by that comment.”

He grinned. “No offense intended,” he assured her. 

“Uh huh.” She reached and poked him in the stomach. “And she likes the pool because of Ariel, well and the heat and the fact we didn’t have one at home.”

He chuckled softly. “Ariel, huh? Guess I’m going to have to watch The Little Mermaid?” 

“I’m surprised you haven’t been forced to yet,” she told him, grinning.

“I’m sure it’ll happen.” He reached out, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Tangled. You will be able to quote them backwards,” she said, leaning into his hand a little. 

“Scary thought,” he teased. He was quiet for a moment. “I should get cleaned up.” 

“You should.” She nodded, keeping her eyes on him.

“Are you saying I smell?” He smirked, rising to his feet.

“You are covered in sweat,” she pointed out, smiling up at him.

“And not from anything very fun.” He winked at her.

“Never anything fun,” she said, taking a deep breath as she stood up too. “I might join them at the pool since you’re busy.”

He was tempted to invite her to join him, but he knew that wasn’t taking things slowly, and he didn’t want to push her away. “All right,” he said softly.

She watched him for a moment then stepped closer and pressed her lips to his for a second before pulling back. “We’ll figure out what to do about Dinah later.”

Oliver nodded a little, gazing at her once more. “Yeah. We will.” He dropped a kiss to her forehead and moved toward the door. He needed a shower all right. A cold one.


	16. Chapter 16

It was almost six in the morning when the alarm on her phone went off. Chloe groaned and pulled her arm from under Oliver’s as she reached for it to turn it off, then sighed as she hit snooze instead, just in case. “We fell asleep,” she muttered.

He mumbled something unintelligible and buried his face against the back of her neck once more, tightening his arm around her.

She looked over her shoulder, frowning a little when she tried to understand him but gave up a moment later. “I gotta go.”

“Five more minutes,” he mumbled.

Chloe smiled a little and shook her head. “You can go back to sleep,” she said as she turned to lay on her back.

He pressed his lips against her shoulder, then against her neck, not opening his eyes. She pressed a kiss to his forehead then pulled his arm from around her and pulled away slowly.

Oliver groaned again, but reluctantly sat up, rubbing his hands over his face. 

“Stay,” she told him, frowning when she sat up too. “It’s too early.”

“I need a shower,” he admitted with a small smile, looking over at her with sleepy eyes.

“Shower later,” she told him, smiling back at him and touching his cheek. “Get some rest. I’ll do the same if Ella lets me.”

He leaned into her touch, then shifted closer, kissing her softly on the lips, slow and sensual. She kissed him back and shifted a little closer too, dropping her hand from his face to his bare chest.

He slid his hand down her back, stroking his fingers lightly over the thin cotton shirt she was wearing and then sliding it up and beneath the material. She straightened her back, sitting up a little as she deepened the kiss, her body already reacting to his light touches. 

After a long moment, he rested his forehead against hers. “You better go,” he murmured.

She took a deep breath and nodded a little, pressing a soft kiss to his lips before pulling away. “Yeah.”

He drew in a deep breath, too. “See you soon?” He gazed at her, arching his eyebrows, much more awake than he had been just moments before.

“Definitely,” she said, smiling at him as she stood up. Somehow, she had managed to find her clothes again at some point during the night, so she just grabbed her phone and looked at him again. “Go back to bed.”

“We’ll see.” He smiled back at her, watching her head for the door.

Chloe took a deep breath and reached for the door, glancing at him once more and giving him a smile before stepping out quietly. She really hadn’t meant to fall asleep, she had planned on leaving in the middle of the night but she ended up being so comfortable, she hadn’t been able to make herself leave and the one time she did try, Oliver had distracted her from the idea completely. 

It was definitely getting harder and harder to take things slow. They had managed to stop themselves so far, but they had done everything aside from actual sex, including sleeping together. Part of her just wanted to tell everyone including Ella the truth, but it had been only a couple of weeks, she knew they shouldn’t rush it, for Ella’s sake. 

She closed the door quietly and rubbed a hand over her face before turning around to head to her and Ella’s room.

“Well, _this_ is an interesting turn of events.” Lois smirked at her as she stood in the middle of the hallway, already dressed for the day, and hair damp from the shower.

Chloe stilled completely when she heard her cousin. She let out a breath then turned to face her. “What are you doing up?”

“I woke up hungry,” she answered, smirking even more. “How’s Ollie’s bed? Comfy?” Her voice was light.

There wasn’t much, or really anything she could say to get out of this. Lois had all but seen them together. “I should go check on Ella,” she said instead.

“Good idea. I’ll tag along,” she said cheerfully.

“Why?” Chloe asked, stopping and staring at her.

“Why not?” Lois arched an eyebrow.

“She’s probably still asleep, Lois. I wasn’t planning on waking her up,” she said, arching her eyebrows.

“I know.” She paused. “Why don’t I check on her and you can go back to Ollie?” 

Chloe held her breath at that and shook her head. It was tempting but... “No. I don’t want her to notice I was gone.”

Lois sighed. “You are impossible sometimes.” She shook her head.

“I’m serious, Lois. I don’t want her to know about anything, we actually don’t want anyone to know about anything,” she pressed.

“Why not?” She folded her arms across her chest.

“Because we don’t know where this will go, we don’t know if it will work out and regardless of how it turns out between us, Oliver is still her dad and if she’s never seen us as a couple before then it won’t matter if we’re not together,” she said firmly.

Lois sighed and pursed her lips. “Fine. I won’t say anything. But...how are things going? Pretty well, I’m guessing.” 

“Thank you,” she said, letting out a breath then shrugging. “We’re taking it slow, but, yeah I guess it’s going well so far.”

“Slow?” she echoed dubiously. 

“Slow,” she said. “I haven’t slept with him.”

“You mean you haven’t had sex with him.” Lois studied her. 

Chloe sighed a little at her and nodded. “Yeah. That’s what I meant.”

“You two must have the world’s best self-restraint,” she commented.

“Yeah, obviously we do,” she snorted, glancing toward the bedroom where Ella was then looking back at her cousin.

Lois smirked at that. “Well, _now_ you do.” 

“We just want to make sure that... if things aren’t working out, we stop soon enough. Before we can’t stand each other,” she said sincerely, shrugging.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen, Chloe,” Lois said just as sincerely. “Not with you and Ollie.” 

“What makes you say that?” She asked curiously. Lois had said something very similar to that when she first told her about Ollie being Ella’s dad and Chloe had never asked her why.

She smiled a little. “Because I’ve seen the two of you interact. Let’s call it a gut feeling.” 

“That’s good but... I don’t wanna take any chances.” Lois knew the two of them probably better than they knew each other, so it was definitely a good start.

“I know you don’t. But the problem with not taking any chances is...sometimes you risk losing everything,” she whispered, hugging her quickly. “I’ll let you go check on Ella.” She turned and headed toward the stairs.

Chloe watched Lois go then took a deep breath and made her way into the bedroom. She knew Lois had a point, and she didn’t plan on losing Oliver, but she needed to make sure they were on the same page before going any further. She just had no idea how to do that.

* * * 

Oliver had set everything up already when he went looking for Chloe and their daughter. He peeked his head into the room they were using, since the door was open, but didn’t see them. Maybe they’d gone to the pool already. He hoped not. He made his way down the hallway, pausing inside the theater room where The Little Mermaid was just ending and he grinned. “Perfect timing.” 

“I think you’re about an hour and forty minutes late, actually,” Chloe told him, smiling as she looked over her shoulder. 

“You missed it!” Ella said, standing up on the couch.

“Well, we’ll have to watch it again sometime,” he suggested, moving into the room and holding his arms out to Ella. “Right now I have a surprise for the two of you.” 

“What is it?” Ella asked instantly as she wrapped her arms around his neck once he picked her up. 

He grinned. “You’ll see,” he said mysteriously, glancing over at Chloe and arching his eyebrows. “Coming?” 

“Come, mommy!” Ella said, grinning. “I wanna see!” 

“Of course I’m coming,” Chloe told him as she stood up and smiled at him, holding his gaze. “Lead the way.”

He winked at her and shifted Ella in his arms so he had a better grip on her, then carried her out of the room and down the hall, then down the stairs. He led Chloe out of the house through the backdoor and into the yard, over to a large blanket that was spread out over the grass. A picnic basket was set atop the blanket, along with a couple of children’s books, and a bouquet of tulips.

Ella looked down at the set up then up at him. “Picnic!?” She asked, her eyes widening. 

Chloe held her breath when she saw then smiled at Ella. “I think so,” she said, looking up at Oliver and placing a hand on his back, her chest tight.

“A picnic,” he confirmed, nodding. He kissed Ella’s cheek and carefully set her down on the ground, chuckling when she ran toward the blanket. He looked at Chloe hopefully. “This is okay, right?” 

“Of course,” she whispered, glancing over to make sure Ella was entertained looking into everything Oliver had there for them before leaning in and kissing his cheek. “Sounds great, actually.”

He relaxed, smiling at her and resting his hand lightly at the small of her back. “Come on. Are you hungry?” 

“Yeah,” she said quietly, smiling up at him even as they got closer to the blanket. “What did you find, Ella?”

“Cake!” She said, grinning.

“Don’t worry, I made some actual food, too,” Oliver told Chloe with a grin as he sat down beside the picnic basket.

“What did you make?” Chloe asked, sitting down beside him, probably closer than she should but she was pretty sure their three year old couldn’t read body language. 

Ella picked up a box of juice and held it out to Oliver. “Open?”

“Absolutely.” He opened the juice box and handed it back to her, smiling. “And I made sandwiches and a couple salads and some macaroni and cheese. Homemade, by the way.” 

“Cheese,” Ella said, grinning as she sipped on her juice. 

“Sounds great, and mac and cheese is a favorite, you know?” Chloe told him.

“Of hers or yours?” he asked with a smile, arching an eyebrow.

“Both.” She smiled back at him, holding his gaze. “This is really nice, Ollie. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said sincerely. “I know we’ve been kinda stuck in the house for the most part.” He glanced at Ella, who was still sipping on her juice box. He reached out and pulled the plate of sandwiches out of the picnic basket. “Okay, we’ve got chicken, turkey, and ham and cheese.” 

“At least it’s a huge house,” she told him, watching as Ella looked at the sandwiches. 

“Cheese,” she told him, sitting down then holding out her hand.

“Ham and cheese?” he asked, holding it out to her. When she took it and took a big bite, he supposed that was what she’d meant.

“She focuses on cheese a lot,” Chloe told him, watching Ella for a moment then looked over at him. “She rarely eats meat, especially red meat, outside from burgers and ground beef.”

Oliver cocked his head to the side, gazing at Ella, and then shifting his eyes back to Chloe. “Me either,” he admitted.

“So I can blame her bad eating habits on you?” She asked, smiling at him.

“I’ll take the blame for that one,” he agreed, nodding. He pulled out the container of macaroni and cheese and the paper plates, and the silverware he’d brought.

“Did you do all this while we were watching the movie?” She asked, watching him.

“Yep. I wanted to surprise you guys,” he admitted, dishing out some macaroni and cheese on three plates and then handing them out.

“Thank you!” Ella said politely at him then smiled proudly at her mom.

“Good job,” Chloe told her as she took her own plate. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, directing it at both of them. He took a bite, nodding a little as though acknowledging to himself he’d done a good job.

Chloe took a bite of her macaroni and arched her eyebrows. “I think you will be making this a lot.”

“Oh, I will, huh?” he teased, grinning.

“You will,” she said more confidently. “Do you like it, Ella.” 

“Mhmm,” she answered, taking another bite of the mac and cheese happily. 

“See?” Chloe pointed out, looking at him.

“Well, how can I possibly say no to that?” He reached out and brushed some hair behind Ella’s ear, smiling softly.

“Can’t,” Chloe said quietly, smiling as she watched Ella.

“Mommy? Can we watch Little Mermaid again with Ollie?” 

“We watched that today, why don’t you pick one of the others and we will watch that one another day again?” Chloe tried, glancing at Ollie.

“What about that other movie? Tangled, is it?” he asked, glancing between them. He had no idea what it was about, but he remembered Chloe saying that Ella loved it.

“Yeah!” Ella grinned. “Tangled.” 

“But we need to have our picnic first, we will watch it later, okay?” Chloe said, smiling at Oliver when Ella nodded and went back to her food.

Oliver smiled softly as they focused on their food. Apparently his surprise was a success.

It didn’t take long after they ate for Ella to ask Oliver to read her one of the books he had picked up and after that, it didn’t take her long before she passed out on the blanket. Chloe herself was feeling a little sleepy, considering she and Oliver hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night. “I might join her,” she teased, leaning sideways against him and brushing Ella’s hair from her face gently.

He smirked at her, laying down on the far edge of the blanket and gazing at her. “You and me both. You kept me up half the night...” 

“Me? You kept me awake all of the night,” she said, laying down on her stomach next to him and looking down at him as she propped herself up on her elbows.

“That’s not how I recall it,” he teased, turning his head to peer at her.

“Your memory is clearly awful,” she teased back, arching her eyebrows at him.

He chuckled lightly, reaching out and taking one of her hands in his and lacing his fingers through hers.

She pulled his hand toward her and pressed a kiss to it before leaning her head against their hands. “This isn’t so bad.”

“What isn’t?” he asked softly, watching her.

“This, being here, all three of us,” she whispered, holding his gaze. Like a family.

He paused, then nodded. “It’s not bad at all,” he agreed.

“She seems pretty comfortable with you,” she added quietly, searching his eyes.

“We do seem to have a natural connection,” Oliver murmured.

“Do you really believe in stuff like that?” She asked, cocking her head.

“You don’t?” He arched his eyebrows.

“I don’t know, I mean I do think we get along really well and I think this is a really good start but... I don’t know,” she murmured thoughtfully. 

“Know what I think?” He reached out, tucking some hair behind her ear and not taking his eyes off her.

“What?” She kept her eyes on him too, she seemed to have a hard time not staring at him these days.

“I think that we were destined to be together from the first time we met,” he informed her.

Chloe paused and smiled at that. “You mean when you were dating my cousin and we met at Clark’s barn?” 

“Yep. You know...cause in person I was really ‘wow.’” He bit back a grin.

She gasped at that, remembering the exact moment when she said the words. “How could you possibly know that?”

“I heard you,” he admitted, laughing softly. “And for the record, that was my first impression of you, too.” 

Chloe let out a breath and shook her head. “You heard me? And you never told me?”

“Well, I didn’t want to embarrass you,” he pointed out. “I mean, I could have said something, but you’d already done the ego-stroking. Beyond that, it would have just made me seem like a douche.” 

“It is pretty mortifying,” she admitted, smiling and shaking her head. “I guess it’s the truth, though.”

“See? If I had called you on it years ago, it would have been even worse, right?” He arched his eyebrows.

“Definitely,” she agreed. “But that doesn’t explain your theory.”

“It was _wow_ at first sight,” he told her with a soft smile, lips curving upwards in a charming smile.

Chloe grinned and leaned her forehead against his shoulder, shaking her head. “Pretty sure you’re used to people wow-ing at you.”

“But I’m not used to being wow-ed by other people,” he admitted.

She lifted her head and smiled softly at him. “I’m not used to that either.”

He held her gaze, cupping her cheek in his hand. “I remember you had on this pretty green blouse. And your hair was longer then, and it was kinda curled and pulled back with these green barrettes.” He met her eyes, smiling, too. “I wasn’t prepared for you.” 

Chloe held her breath at that. “I don’t remember that much detail,” she admitted, searching his eyes. 

He shrugged a little. “There isn’t as much detail to guys' clothes,” he joked.

“Well, you’re a celebrity. I was starstruck,” she teased, glancing over at Ella to make sure she was asleep still before turning back to Oliver.

He grinned back at her. “Fair enough,” he teased back, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

She leaned into his touch and smiled softly. “So, what took us so long?”

“Maybe we had to go through everything we went through so we could be ready for each other,” he murmured.

“So we could make it work,” she whispered, taking a deep breath and nodding a little.

“Exactly.” He shifted closer, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head.

She closed her eyes and shifted closer too, opening her eyes again to look at him for a moment before wrapping an arm over his chest and pressing a kiss to his cheek before laying her head over his shoulder.

He smiled softly at that, closing his eyes and wrapping an arm around her, completely relaxed and comfortable, even outside under the warm sun.


	17. Chapter 17

He wasn’t sure what time it was when his phone began to ring the next morning, but he knew it was far too early to be awake. Especially considering he and Chloe had spent most of the night awake, talking and making out. His arm was still wrapped around her, face buried in her hair when he was drawn from his sleep into consciousness, groaning and lifting his head reluctantly. He shifted, reaching behind him and onto the nightstand, picking up his phone and pressing it to his ear without opening his eyes. “What?” 

Chloe complained both at the noise and the movement and she turned toward him but kept her eyes closed, she was exhausted. 

“Lex is dead,” Victor told him instantly, his voice firm. 

That woke him up. He sat up quickly, blinking a few times. “Run that by me again?” 

“It hasn’t hit the news yet, but the cops are all over it,” Victor told him. “He was murdered in his office here in Metropolis, apparently, a cleaning lady found the body about fifteen minutes ago.”

“What’s wrong?” Chloe asked, frowning as she slowly sat up too.

“What do we know? Do we know who? Or how?” He looked over at Chloe, staring at her with wide eyes.

“Stab wound, looks like. But the cops don’t know much yet, I’m keeping an ear out.”

“What is it?” Chloe pressed, her eyes widening at the look on Oliver’s face.

“Lex is dead,” he whispered, pulling the phone away from his face for a moment. 

“What? Are you sure?” She asked, staring at him.

He nodded slightly. “Can you pull the video feed from his office? The one we planted?” he asked Victor, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Yeah, I’ll send it your way,” he paused. “Was that Chloe?”

“Yeah,” he said, not really thinking about it. “Let me know when you’ve seen the video, okay?” 

“I will, I’ll let the others know too. Talk to you soon,” Victor said, then hung up a second later.

Oliver hung up his cell phone. “A cleaning lady found Lex murdered in his office this morning. Stabbed, apparently.” He pursed his lips, arching his eyebrows.

Chloe took a deep breath at that and rubbed a hand over her face. “I’ll go start up the computers. Are we sure it’s him?” She asked, watching Oliver.

“Victor sounded pretty sure.” He reached out and laid a hand on her thigh, worry in his eyes.

“Let’s check on the cameras Bart installed,” she suggested, covering his hand with hers and holding his gaze.

“Wait,” he whispered, holding his breath for a moment. 

She paused and held his gaze, waiting like he asked even if she was more than a little impatient.

He gazed at her, then shook his head a little, reluctantly letting go of her and climbing out of bed. “Come on.” 

“Oliver,” she said, frowning as she stood up. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” he said softly. “Let’s figure out what’s going on with Lex first. We can talk about everything else later.” He reached down, picking up his t-shirt off the nightstand and pulling it on over his head.

She frowned more, looking at him for a moment longer then shaking her head and reaching for her shorts on the floor, not bothering with changing the shirt she had on, his shirt. 

He turned to watch her get dressed, blocking her path when she headed for the door. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her urgently. Like he was afraid it might be the last time he had the opportunity to do so.

Chloe was completely surprised by the kiss, it took her a second but she returned it a moment later, not pulling away until she needed to take a deep breath, her head spinning a little as she stared up at him.

He smiled faintly, kissing the corner of her mouth then reaching down to grab her hand. “Come on.” 

“Wait,” she frowned more, tugging on his hand to stop him and staring up at him.

Oliver turned to face her once more, holding his breath, and waiting.

“You didn’t--” she hesitated then took a deep breath. “This has nothing to do with you, right?”

He winced involuntarily. “I had nothing to do with Lex’s death this time, no,” he said quietly, holding her gaze.

Chloe let out her breath and nodded a little, squeezing his hand as she relaxed slightly. “I just needed to make sure,” she whispered. 

He nodded silently, then led the way toward the bedroom door.

She followed him silently too. She was going to have to apologize for that one later, when everything made more sense. But she had no idea what to make of the way he was acting still.

* * * 

Over an hour later, the two of them were sitting on chairs in front of the computer screen as Chloe searched the video-feed. “Victor’s going to send the audio,” he murmured.

“We will need to make this a fully working station eventually,” she told him impatiently as she paused the video. “This is around two in the morning, central.” 

Oliver held his breath as he kept his gaze on the screen, staring as Tess Mercer suddenly appeared on the feed. “Mercy,” he whispered, sitting up a little straighter.

Chloe blinked a couple of times and glanced at Oliver then back at the screen. “You think Tess...” 

“If anyone had reason to want Lex dead besides our friends, it’s Tess,” he murmured.

She hesitated for a moment then nodded. “I guess we better make sure it was her before we jump to conclusions,” she whispered, watching as Lex came into his office a moment later. 

Oliver held his breath as they watched the screen. Lex and Tess talked for a long time, and it was apparently turning into a heated discussion. He could tell by the expression on her face that she was furious, yelling, probably, and Lex was smirking. His jaw tightened involuntarily.

Chloe tensed when she saw Lex standing up, then frowned when he turned his back to Tess and headed to the bar. He seemed startled when Tess said something and approached him, but not even a second after he turned around, Tess had what Chloe thought was a long knife against Lex’s stomach. 

Still, Lex smirked at her, as if daring her to act. The shock that flickered over his face when she actually did gave Oliver a brief moment of sick satisfaction, which made him grimace. “Guess that answers that question.” 

Chloe looked away and took a deep breath, nodding slightly. “She will be lucky if we’re the only ones who had the place bugged,” Chloe muttered, glancing over at him.

He pursed his lips. “No kidding.” He rubbed a hand over his face, rising to his feet.

After shutting the video off, she stood up too. “I guess we will find out why when we have the audio.”

Oliver nodded, exhaling slowly. “At least we know what happened.” 

“I can’t help but feel relieved,” she admitted, looking over at him.

“That he’s gone?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” she told him, looking over at him. “I didn’t want to be afraid he’d get to Ella every time she went outside.”

He gazed at her, nodding slightly once more. “Me either,” he said softly.

Chloe let out a breath. “Was Vic calling the others?” 

“Yeah.” He rested his hands on her waist, studying her for a long moment. “I guess you’re not trapped in the mansion anymore.” 

With a deep breath, she shook her head and looked down then back at him. “No. But I didn’t exactly feel trapped here.”

Oliver gazed at her. “No?” 

She shook her head, holding his gaze.

“Good,” he whispered. “I never wanted you to feel trapped here.” He brought his hand up to touch her cheek. “But that doesn’t mean I want you to leave, either.” 

Chloe pursed her lips at that and nodded, leaning into his touch a little before straightening. “I guess we need to figure out what to do now.”

“What are your thoughts?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” She looked down, Lois’ words from the other night echoing in her head. She didn’t want to lose him, she knew that much. “I don’t wanna be away from you,” she whispered, before looking at him again. “And I don’t want Ella to be away from you, but I don’t know how smart it would be for us to move in together permanently.”

Oliver’s chest tightened at that and he was silent for a moment. “What if we don’t call it permanent? What if we just....keep doing what we’ve been doing for the foreseeable future, except now we can all leave the premises as often as we want or need to?” 

Chloe considered that for a moment then pursed her lips and nodded a little. “I think that works. It’s not like we have an apartment to go home to.”

“No. But you have a home here as long as you want it,” he murmured, leaning in and kissing her forehead.

She wrapped her arms around him and stepped closer, closing her eyes. “Maybe it’s time we tell Ella.”

He held his breath, wrapping his arms around her. “You think so?” he asked hopefully.

“Yeah,” she breathed, tightening her arms around him before lifting her head to look at him. “She’s very comfortable with you and you seem to be with her too, I think she’ll be incredibly happy.”

Oliver’s face lit up at that and he smiled at her. “I hope so.” 

Chloe couldn’t help but smile at the look on his face. She lifted a hand to cup his cheek and nodded a little. “I also think we need to talk to Mia before we make any decisions about living arrangements.”

“Agreed,” he said quietly, leaning into her touch. “But she loves Ella and it seems like the two of you get along pretty well, so I don’t think it’ll be an issue.” 

“I don’t think it will be an issue either, but she’s a huge part of your life and she is old enough to be able to give us her input. I just don’t want her to feel like she’s not a part of things.” 

“I know.” He kissed her forehead softly, brushing his nose over hers.

She smiled softly then pressed her lips against his then pulled back a moment later. “Do you think she’ll be okay with this?”

“Yeah, I do.” Oliver kissed her softly once more. 

She nodded and let out her breath at that, smiling. “Good.”

“When can we tell Ella?” he whispered.

“Today?” Chloe tried, then paused and shook her head, smiling. “You’re her dad, you can decide.”

“Today’s good.” He smiled, tightening his arms around her.

“Okay,” she smiled back at him, shifting her arms to wrap around his neck and stepping closer. “You’ll need to figure out what you want to say.”

He nodded, dropping his gaze to her mouth and then kissing her once more. Chloe kissed him back, pulling him to her as much as she could. He groaned against her mouth, dropping his lips to her jaw and kissing there, trailing his mouth down her throat.

She shivered, sliding her fingers into his hair and pulling his mouth closer as she lifted her head to allow him access.

Oliver complied, kissing and licking her skin lightly, enough for her to get pleasure from it, but not enough to leave marks. He backed her up against the door, hands on her hips then moving to cup her face as he kissed her mouth once more. Somehow knowing that Lex was gone for good (hopefully), made him much less tense and on edge.

Chloe used the door and pushed herself up slightly, locking one leg around him as well as she could, kissing him deeply.

He shifted, holding onto her leg with one hand and returning the urgency in her kiss.

She moaned against his mouth and shook her head a little, reaching for his shirt and pulling it up.

He reached up, pulling the shirt off and over his head, discarding it to the floor and reaching for hers, as well. His, technically, since it was his shirt she was wearing. “If you want to stop, please tell me now,” he murmured, pressing his lips to her collarbone.

Chloe shivered and shook her head, taking a deep breath. “No,” she muttered, pushing him close again, their bare chests pressed together. “No stopping.” She didn’t know if it was relief from hearing about Lex, fear of them not being stuck together in the house anymore, anxiety over him telling Ella the truth or a mix of everything, but she was done taking it slow.

“Thank God,” he whispered, hoisting her up farther against the door and helping her wrap her other leg around his waist, as well. Without warning, he dipped his head and captured a nipple in his mouth and suckled gently.

She couldn’t help but smile a little at his words, but it didn’t last long as she moaned again, tightening her legs around him and trying to pull him even closer, if that was possible. “Ollie,” she moaned, running her nails over his back as lightly as she could manage.

He groaned at the feel of her nails against his skin, switching breasts and showing the other the same treatment as the first. He pressed a kiss to her stomach, then pulled her away from the door, but not before locking it. He smirked, arching his eyebrows and carrying her over to the sofa across the room. Their first time together in years wasn’t going to be up against a door.

Chloe took a deep breath as he laid her down, but kept her legs locked around him, smirking a little too and lifting her head. She kissed him firmly, then nibbled on his bottom lip, opening her eyes to look at him once more.

Oliver smiled down at her, eyes bright as he slid his body over hers, chest to breasts. “You’ve gotten more beautiful,” he told her quietly, holding her gaze.

She ran her hands down his back and smiled. “You’re still ‘wow’,” she said, arching her eyebrows a little and lifting her head to brush her nose against his.

He kissed her softly, resting his forehead against hers for a long moment before kissing her neck tenderly. She closed her eyes, relaxing against the couch and running her hands over his sides, turning her head and brushing her nose against his ear.

Oliver lifted his head to gaze at her for a moment, then slid his way farther down her body, pressing a kiss to her stomach. Chloe cocked her head and lifted it to watch him, brushing her hands over his hair and face as she did and smiling.

He smiled back at her, hooking his thumbs inside the elastic of her sleep shorts and meeting her eyes to make sure she was okay with going further. She held his gaze and nodded slightly, smiling at him. She was more comfortable with him than she had ever been with anyone else.

He slid the clothes down her legs, discarding it to the floor and kissing his way down her body slowly, stroking and teasing and familiarizing himself with every inch of her skin. 

Shivering, she took a deep breath and did her best to keep her eyes on him. “Come closer,” she called, lifting her head.

He smiled at her request, sliding his body against hers so his face was hovering just a couple inches above her. “You called?” he teased, nuzzling his nose against her cheek.

“That easy, huh?” She teased back, locking her arms and legs around him once agains as she brushed her lips against the corner of his mouth.

“Hm, maybe next time I’ll have to ignore you for awhile,” he teased, rubbing his nose against hers.

“You can try,” she said, brushing her lips against his jaw as she reached down, sliding her fingers into the sides of his boxers.

“Are you saying I have no self-control?” he asked, widening his eyes in mock surprise.

“I’m saying.” She ran her nails over his side then moved a hand between them to his lower stomach. “I think I found out a couple of tricks to use on you in the past few days.”

“Do tell,” he said, groaning softly at her touches. He dipped his head, nipping lightly at her collarbone. 

“I don’t think I have to.” She pushed his boxers down, brushing her hand against him slowly as she did.

“So you’re gonna tease me,” he murmured, sliding a hand up to cup one of her breasts, gently rubbing his thumb over the nipple.

She shivered and shook her head, holding his gaze. “I think we’ve both teased enough, don’t you?”

“Definitely agree, Watchtower,” he whispered, dipping his head and kissing her once more before sliding off her and off the sofa, kicking his boxers away and moving over to the desk, not the least bit self-conscious. He pulled a drawer and plucked a foil package from inside before returning to her side once more.

Chloe watched him closely as she walked around, he really was gorgeous. “Handy,” she said, sitting up as she took the package from him. They had used it before but hopefully it wouldn’t fail them this time.

He smiled softly at her, kneeling over her on the sofa and watching her intently as she unwrapped the condom. 

She tossed the package and looked at him, cupping him in her hand before sliding the condom over his length then leaning closer and pressing her lips to his. 

He kissed her hungrily as he laid her back down, covering her body with his once more. He gazed into her eyes, sliding into her slowly to give her time to adjust to his presence.

Chloe moaned and held still for a moment, wrapping her arms around his back and lifting her legs to around his waist once more then nodding a little.

Still holding her gaze, he just held still for a few moments before starting to move within her. Groaning, he dropped his head to her chest, pressing kisses there once more. 

She shuddered, cupping the back of his head and moving slowly with him as she closed her eyes, wanting to focus on him completely.

“You okay?” he whispered, lifting his head to look at her, barely able to maintain his self-control. It had been a long, long time since he’d been with a woman.

“Yeah,” she breathed, opening her eyes to look at him and cupping his face in her hand, nodding and lifting her hips against his a little faster, moaning at the sensation it caused.

He began to move a little faster, as well, thrusting into her harder and shifting his position so he could cup her shoulders in his hands, watching her face. 

Chloe angled her hips to his, gasping and moving faster as she closed her eyes. “Ollie,” she whispered, wrapping both arms around his back.

Oliver slid a hand between them, stroking her lightly and kissing her neck as he buried himself inside her, then abruptly pulled them both into a sitting position so she was in his lap. He wound his free hand through her hair.

She shuddered, her muscles clinging to him at his touch, once she’d adjusted on his lap, she started moving faster with him, lowering her head to his neck and pressing her lips to his skin.

“Oh, Chloe,” he whispered, urging her hips faster as he met her halfway. 

Chloe met his thrusts, moaning against his skin and biting to keep herself as quiet as possible, even if she wasn’t too worried about that. Her muscles were clenching and her entire body felt like it might explode soon, he felt amazing and combined with his touch, it was almost overwhelming.

He hissed at the feel of her teeth against his skin, tightening his hand in her hair even as he stroked her faster. “Come for me,” he whispered, nuzzling his face into her neck and kissing her there.

She moaned loudly as he moved his hand faster, her back arching as she pressed her hips to his as much as she could. It didn’t take much longer, her muscles spasming as her orgasm hit her, causing her body to shake with it’s intensity. 

He thrust into her twice more, following her over the edge and holding onto her tightly as he collapsed against the back of the sofa, breathing hard. His eyes slid shut and he stroked his hands down her back.

She took a few deep breaths before opening her eyes and turning her head to press her lips over his shoulder, where she had bitten him and letting her weight drop over him, not that she had much control over that.

“Incredible,” he murmured, shifting them so he was lying down with her atop him. 

“You are,” she whispered, smiling a little and relaxing over his chest.

“We are,” he corrected her, stroking her hair.

Chloe pressed her lips to his neck and nodded, closing her eyes again. “We probably have a couple of hours before we have to move, right?”

“Yeah, we should have. Sun’s not even up,” he murmured, kissing her temple.

“Okay.” She relaxed. She really didn’t want to move anytime soon, but a couple of hours would have to do.

“Rest,” he whispered, closing his eyes and laying his head down, exhaling slowly.

“You too,” she whispered back, running her hand over his chest slowly and falling asleep a moment later.

Oliver smiled faintly as he listened to her breathing even out. Within moments, he, too, was asleep.


	18. Chapter 18

It had taken them a few weeks to adjust to the fact that they were able to leave the mansion again. Mia was back in school, Oliver was back to working at Queen Industries and some nights Green Arrow and Chloe was also back to doing work for the Gotham Gazette. She wasn’t working as much since Ella still didn’t have a daycare to go to, and she was still working from home, but she managed enough productive time since Mia and especially Oliver were home often. 

The more time that passed, the less she could see herself moving away from Oliver. Mia knew about their relationship, as did most everyone else, Chloe guessed, but they were only slowly letting Ella see them holding hands or with their arms around each other. She didn’t seem to mind or think it was odd, in fact, she seemed to be even more connected to Oliver since he told her he was her dad. She had been very excited to find out she had one and of course, she considered Mia her sister now. Ella had even taken to calling her sis and as of a few days ago, she had called Oliver daddy for the first time. 

Even with Lex gone, they had still been hesitant to go out together, mostly because they knew that the news about Oliver’s daughter would be front page the second anyone found out. But they didn’t want to be locked inside, either, so when Oliver suggested going to the beach one Sunday morning, and both Ella and Mia had been incredibly excited, Chloe had to give in. 

The girls were walking ahead of them as they picked up towels, chairs and food from the car. Chloe couldn’t help but look around, the place was pretty much deserted, which was definitely a good thing. “I’m guessing this is far enough from downtown that not many people come this way?” She asked him, glancing over at the girls before focusing on him again.

He nodded slightly. “There will probably be a few people around, but it’ll be much less crowded here than most beaches in the area,” he assured her, taking her hand in his as they followed Mia and Ella down to the sand.

She slid her fingers through his and nodded a little. “I never really took Ella to the beach before, I mean I have but you can’t exactly get in the water in Gotham.”

Oliver grimaced at that. “Well, you could, but I doubt it’s advisable.” 

“That’s what I meant,” she said, grinning a little at the look on his face. “Besides, it’s rarely ever warm enough for swimming outside.”

“And if you get into trouble, I’m not sure bats know how to swim.” He smirked.

“Is that what this is about?” She smirked, cocking her head. “Green Arrow versus the Batman?” She added the last part in a whisper.

“What? Taking my favorite girls to the beach? Of course not.” He arched his eyebrows, looking at her.

“Your dislike of all things Gotham,” she corrected him, arching her eyebrows back.

“I dislike Gotham because it’s a dangerous city.” He shrugged. 

“It is,” Chloe agreed, taking a deep breath. “But at least most of the dangerous people in Gotham are human.”

“Not sure that makes a big difference when it comes to ones like the Joker,” he pointed out.

“Probably doesn’t, but at the time I moved there, I just wanted as much distance from all things Krypton as I could get,” she told him.

“Fair enough,” he agreed quietly, nodding and giving her hand a squeeze. 

She squeezed his hand back then let go of it as they stopped where the girls had left their flip flops before running toward the water. “I think they are both enjoying the whole sister thing equally,” she said with a smile as she watched them.

“Yeah, I do, too,” he agreed with a soft smile of his own. “I’ve never seen Mia as happy as she has been lately.” 

“It’s good to see. From what you told me, she could use a chance at being a normal kid,” she told him as she unfolded a big towel on the sand.

“Yeah, definitely.” He plopped down on the towel, slid his sunglasses on and tugged his shirt off over his head. Then he looked up at her with a grin.

Chloe held her breath when she saw him and shook her head, kicking her flip flops off then pulling her dress over her head. “We’re going to have to do this alone sometime,” she muttered as she sat down next to him.

“At night under the stars,” he added, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

She leaned against him and nodded. “With some wine, and no one else around,” she said, turning and kissing his cheek.

“I like the way you think, Gorgeous,” he informed her with a smile.

“Good to know,” she said, smiling back at him then turning her gaze back on the girls.

“So Mia and Ella are happy. How about Chloe?” he asked softly, nudging her gently with his elbow.

She took a deep breath at that and smiled, turning to look at him again. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.”

At that, he grinned brightly and leaned in, kissing her softly. “Ditto.” 

Chloe kissed him once more then forced herself to pull away. “Thank you.”

His eyebrows furrowed at that. “For what?” 

“Being you,” she said with a shrug and grinned softly.

He laughed softly. “I don’t think I had much of a choice in that. But thanks for being you, too.” 

“You did, though. You could have turned out like Lex, or Bruce Wayne, but you’re the most amazing guy I know,” she said sincerely, watching him. Not enough people told him that and she knew as much. Because not enough people knew him like she did. 

His expression softened and he reached up, cupping her cheek with one hand and pulling his sunglasses off with the other. “I love you,” he whispered.

Chloe stilled at that, holding her breath as she searched his eyes silently for a moment, then smiled softly. “I love you, too,” she whispered, brushing her nose against his. She had thought the words before, but had been too scared to say them, now she didn’t know why she had been scared, it didn’t feel nearly as hard as she had expected it too. It felt natural, like everything with him.

He smiled at that, kissing her softly on the mouth and letting his eyes drift shut. For so long, he’d been alone. Now he never would be again.


End file.
